Brussels, 08/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The next Education, Youth and Culture Council will be held on Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 May in Brussels under the chairmanship of Czech Education, Youth and Sports Minister Ondøej Liška and Czech Culture Minister Václav Jehlièka. For the “audiovisual” point, the European Commission will be represented by Commissioner Jan Figel', responsible for education, training, culture and sports, and Viviane Reding, responsible for the information society and the media. The strong point of the session will be the adoption by ministers of a cooperation framework in the education sector until 2020, in the context of the conclusions of the “Bologna Summit”, held in Louvain and Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium on 28 and 29 April (see EUROPE 9892).
The session will begin on Monday afternoon with the “youth” dossier. A single point, devoted to European cooperation in the youth field, is on the agenda. Ministers will assess the current framework and prospects concerning the future of youth policy with a view to adopting conclusions. Their watchword will be that of defining clearer objectives to reduce the number of priorities in order to achieve practical results.
Tuesday's session will begin during the morning with “education”. The main subject under discussion will be the strategic framework for European cooperation in the field of education and training until 2020. The Council will hold an exchange of views before adopting conclusions on a new cooperation framework. Objectives focus on the development of mobility, better national strategies for ensuring lifelong training and the promotion of creativity and entrepreneurial spirit at every level of education and training. This new strategic framework is based on a Commission proposal suggesting that cooperation between member states be enlarged to six new fields in addition to the existing reference criteria. The Council is expected to take a large number of the Commission proposals on board. With regards to education, ministers will also adopt conclusions on the development of partnerships between education and training institutions and employers in the context of lifelong learning. Greater awareness of trends in the labour market can make learning more responsive to future needs and increase student motivation. At the same time, collaboration with education institutions can help employers to ensure the professional development of their staff, the draft conclusions point out.
Tuesday afternoon will be devoted to “culture” and “audiovisual” aspects. The Council will adopt conclusions concerning culture as a catalyst for creativity and innovation. It points out that, since culture is inextricably linked with creativity, which in turn lies at the origin of innovation, it can contribute to economic growth and to reaching the Lisbon targets. Member states and the Commission are therefore invited to foster, in various ways, the potential of cultural policies to promote creativity. Furthermore, ministers will officially designate Guimarães (Portugal) and Maribor (Slovenia) as European capitals of culture for 2012, and Marseilles (France) and Košice (Slovakia) as European capitals for culture 2013. These towns had been selected by the panel on 5 November 2008 (see EUROPE 9778). The “audiovisual” section will cover creative content online. Ministers will hold an exchange of views on this. The problem of piracy, development of legal offers and protection of the interests of right-holders will be at the core of the discussions, given the constant development of new technologies. Delegations will speak of their own experience and exchange ideas on best practice in this respect. (I.L./transl.jl)