10.VI.2004
COUNCIL OFTHE EUROPEAN UNION / EN
C/04/155
Brussels, 27-28 May 2004
9283/04 (Presse 155)
Press release
2585th Council meeting
Education, Youth and Culture
Brussels, 27-28 May 2004
President Mr John O' Donoghue, TD,
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism of Ireland
Mr Dermot Ahern, TD,
Minister for Communications, Marine and
Natural Resources of Ireland
Mr Noel Dempsey, TD,
Minister for Education and Science of Ireland
Ms Síle de Valera, TD,
Minister of State at the Department of
Education and Science of Ireland
9283/04 (Presse 155) - 28 -
EN
Main results of the CouncilThe Council designated Luxembourg and Sibiu (Romania) as European Capitals of Culture for 2007, as well as Liverpool (United Kingdom) and Stavanger (Norway) for 2008. It further reached a political agreement on a draft European Parliament and Council Decision enabling the new Member States to participate in the event from 2009.
The Council reached political agreement on a draft Council Decision establishing "Europass", a single portfolio of standardised European CV and other documents reflecting personal competences and qualifications, with a view to facilitating the mobility of workers and trainees in Europe.
CONTENTS1
PARTICIPANTS 3
ITEMS DEBATED
CULTURE 5
European Capital of Culture 5
Future audiovisual and culture programmes 6
European audiovisual policy - Review of the "Television without frontiers Directive" 6
EDUCATION 7
Guidance throughout life in Europe - Resolution 7
"Europass" - Single portfolio for qualifications and competences* 12
Quality assurance in vocational education and training - Council conclusions 12
Identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning - Conclusions 15
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training* 18
Future education and training programmes - Council conclusions 18
YOUTH 19
Social integration of young people - Resolution 19
Racism and Intolerance in relation to Young People - Declaration 23
Future youth programme/common objectives on voluntary activities/youth research 26
OTHER BUSINESS 27
OTHER ITEMS APPROVED
EXTERNAL RELATIONS
EC-FYROM Stabilisation and Association Council 28
PARTICIPANTS
The Governments of the Member States and the European Commission were represented as follows:
Belgium:
Mr Bernd GENTGES Minister for Education and Training, Culture and Tourism (German-speaking Community)
Ms Marleen VANDERPOORTEN Flemish Minister for Education and Training
Mr Paul VAN GREMBERGEN Flemish Minister for Home Affairs, Culture, Youth and the Civil Service
Czech Republic:
Mr Pavel DOSTÁL Minister for Culture
Ms Petra BUZKOVÁ Minister for Education, Youth and Sports
Denmark:
Ms Ulla TØRNÆS Minister for Education
Germany:
Mr Thomas GOPPEL Minister of State
Mr Wolf-Michael CATENHUSEN State Secretary
Mr Peter RUHENSTROTH-BAUER State Secretary
Estonia:
Mr Toivo MAIMETS Minister for Education and Science
Greece:
Ms Marietta GIANNAKOU Minister for Education and Religious Affairs
Mr Theodoros ROUSOPOULOS Minister of State
Ms Vasso KOLLIA Secretary-General for Youth Affairs
Spain:
Ms Carmen CALVO POYATO Minister for Culture
Ms María Jesús SAN SEGUNDO Minister for Education and Science
Ms Amparo VALCARCE GARCÍA State Secretary for Social Services, the Family and People with Disabilities
France:
Mr Renaud DONNEDIEU de VABRES Minister for Culture and Communication
Mr François FILLON Minister for National Education, Higher Education and Research
Ireland:
Mr John O'DONOGHUE Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism
Mr Dermot AHERN Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources
Mr John BROWNE Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources
Mr Noel DEMPSEY Minister for Education and Science
Ms Síle de VALERA Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science with special responsibility for Adult Education, Youth Affairs and Educational Disadvantage
Italy:
Mr Giuliano URBANI Minister for Cultural Assets and Activities
Mr Giancarlo INNOCENZI State Secretary for Communications
Ms Maria Grazia SILIQUINI State Secretary for Education, the Universities and Research
Cyprus:
Mr Kornelios KORNELIOU Deputy Permanent Representative
Latvia:
Ms Helēna DEMAKOVA Minister for Culture
Lithuania:
Ms Roma ŽAKAITIENĖ Minister for Culture
Mr Rimantas ŠADŽIUS Deputy Minister for Social Security and Labour
Luxembourg:
Ms Erna HENNICOT-SCHOEPGES Minister for Culture, Higher Education and Research, Minister for Public Works
Ms Anne BRASSEUR Minister for Education, Vocational Training and Sport
Hungary:
Mr István HILLER Minister for Cultural Heritage
Mr Bálint MAGYAR Minister for Education
Mr Attila MESTERHÁZY Political State Secretary, Ministry of Children, Youth and Sports
Malta:
Mr Louis GALEA Minister for Education, Youth and Employment
Netherlands:
Ms Maria van der HOEVEN Minister for Education, Culture and Science
Ms Medy van der LAAN State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science
Ms Clémence ROSS-van DORP State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport
Austria:
Mr Franz MORAK State Secretary, Federal Chancellery
Mr Karl SCHWEITZER State Secretary, Federal Chancellery
Poland:
Mr Mirosław SAVICKI Minister for National Education and Sport
Mr Maciej KLIMCZAK Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of Culture
Portugal:
Mr David JUSTINO Minister for Education
Slovenia:
Ms Andreja RIHTER Minister for Culture
Ms Lučka LORBER State Secretary for Post-Secondary Vocational Education and Higher Education
Slovakia:
Mr Rudolf CHMEL Minister for Culture
Mr Martin FRONC Minister for Education
Finland:
Ms Tuula HAATAINEN Minister for Education
Sweden:
Ms Marita ULVSKOG Minister for Culture
Mr Carl LINDBERG Secretary of State
United Kingdom:
Lord McINTOSH of HARINGEY Minister for Media and Heritage
Mr Alan JOHNSON Minister of State for Lifelong Learning and Higher Education
Commission:
Ms Viviane REDING Member
Ms Dalia GRYBAUSKAITÉ Member
ITEMS DEBATED
CULTURE
European Capital of Culture
The Council took a number of decisions relating to the European Capital of Culture initiative:
Culture Capital for 2007 and 2008
The Council designated Luxembourg and Sibiu (Romania) as European Capitals of Culture for 2007, as well as Liverpool (United Kingdom) and Stavanger (Norway) for 2008.
Members of the selection panel
The Council took note of the names of the leading figures proposed by the Irish and Netherlands delegations with a view to the nomination of two members of the selection panel for the designation of the "European Capital of Culture" for next year. The two members will be officially appointed by the Council during the second half of this year.
The two candidates are: Mr Charlie Hennessy (Irish proposal) and Mr Bert van Meggelen (Dutch proposal).
It will be recalled that under Decision 1419/1999/EC[1] establishing a Community action for the European Capital of Culture event for the years 2005 to 2019, each year the Commission forms a selection panel which issues a report on the designation of the cities as Capitals of Culture.
The selection panel is composed of seven leading independent figures who are experts on the cultural sector, of whom two are appointed by the European Parliament, two by the Council, two by the Commission and one by the Committee of the Regions.
Under Decision 2000/C9/01[2] on the appointment by the Council of two members of the selection panel, each of the two Member States holding the Presidency during the ongoing year nominates a leading figure with a view to their appointment by the Council, by a simple majority, for the following year.
Extension to the new Member States
The Council reached a political agreement on a draft European Parliament and Council Decision adapting Decision 1419/1999/EC[3] on the European Capital of Culture event, in order to enable the participation of the EU's ten new Member States.
Decision 1419/1999/EC contains a chronological list that determines for each year, from 2005 to 2019, the Member State eligible to nominate a city to host the European Capital of Culture event. Given the symbolic importance of the event and the interest expressed by the new Member States in participating, the draft Decision will enable them to participate before 2020. Moreover, as preparations for the event can take several years, it makes no changes to the existing order and will apply only from 2009.
The draft Decision will complete the existing chronological order by adding for each year, from 2009 to 2019, one of the new Member States, under a new system with two Member States eligible each year. From 2009 onwards, one city of each of the Member States appearing on the list will be eligible for designation.
The European Parliament having delivered its first reading opinion on 22 April 2004, the text as agreed, after finalisation in the official Community languages, will be adopted in the form of a common position, without further debate, at a forthcoming Council meeting and will be sent to the European Parliament with a view to its second reading.
The European Capital of Culture event was launched by the Council in 1985, on the initiative of the Greek Minister Melina Mercouri, with the aim of bringing European people closer together. Community support for the initiative, as well as the selection procedure for 2005 to 2019, are laid down by Decision 1419/1999/EC.
For further information, please consult the following documents on the Council’s website: 9132/1/04 (2007), 9137/1/04 (2008), 15314/03 and 8708/04 (proposal for a Decision amending Decision 1419/1999/EC).
Future audiovisual and culture programmes
The Council was briefed by the Commission on its intentions for a new generation of programmes for the 2007-2013 period outlined in the Communication entitled "Making citizenship work: fostering European culture and diversity through programmes for Youth, Culture, Audiovisual and Civic Participation".
It further held an exchange of views on the objectives, design and content proposed for the future programmes, intended to help the Commission in its further reflections.
During the debate, delegations generally welcomed the main thrust of the proposed new programmes and the emphasis on simplification and streamlining. The importance of clear priorities and selection criteria as well as quantitative and qualitative objectives was also stressed and a number of delegations also favoured supporting smaller projects, in particular in small or new Member States.
It was further noted that the debate on the content of the programmes should not prejudge future discussions on the Financial Perspectives.
It is recalled that the Commission intends to submit, later this year, legislative proposals aimed at replacing Media-Plus, Media-Training and Culture 2000, which will come to an end in 2006, with a single audiovisual programme and with a culture programme covering the mobility of people working in the cultural sector, the circulation of works of art and intercultural dialogue.
For further information, please consult the following documents on the Council’s website: 7352/04.
European audiovisual policy - Review of the "Television without frontiers Directive"
The Council held a debate on the future of European audiovisual policy and, in particular, on the review of the "Television without frontiers Directive"[4], on the basis of a Commission communication and a Presidency discussion paper.
Main points raised by the different delegations concerned:
• the scope of a revised Directive, in the context of the blurring of the distinction between broadcast and information society services;
• the role of broadcasting with regard to cultural and linguistic diversity;
• the ability to continue to have meaningful regulation at national level;
• the challenges posed by new advertising techniques;
• accessibility of broadcast services to people with disabilities;
• the viability of co- and self-regulation in a future regulatory environment.
In this context, the interventions also focused on the proposed inclusion of radio and television broadcasting in the draft Directive dealing with services in the internal market, as well as on problems related to transfrontier broadcasting and the protection of minors.
The debate was intended to help the Commission in its further reflections in this field.
For further information, please consult the following documents on the Council’s website: 16206/03 (Commission communication) and 8977/04 (Presidency’s paper).
EDUCATION
Guidance throughout life in Europe - Resolution
The Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States adopted the following Resolution:
"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL,
AWARE THAT
1. In the context of lifelong learning, guidance refers to a range of activities[5] that enables citizens of any age and at any point in their lives to identify their capacities, competences and interests, to make educational, training and occupational decisions and to manage their individual life paths in learning, work and other settings in which these capacities and competences are learned and/or used.
2. Guidance provision within the education and training system, and especially in schools or at school level, has an essential role to play in ensuring that individuals’ educational and career decisions are firmly based, and in assisting them to develop effective self-management of their learning and career paths. It is also a key instrument for education and training institutions to improve the quality and provision of learning.
3. Guidance throughout life contributes to the achievement of the European Union goals of economic development, labour market efficiency and occupational and geographical mobility by enhancing the efficiency of investment in education and vocational training, lifelong learning and human capital and workforce development.
4. Effective guidance provision has a key role to play in promoting social inclusion, social equity, gender equality and active citizenship by encouraging and supporting individuals' participation in education and training and their choice of realistic and meaningful careers.
5. Guidance in the Member States of the European Union is provided through a wide diversity of structures, delivery systems and practices across education, training, employment, unemployment and private and community sectors. Such diversity provides a rich basis for cooperation and mutual learning.
6. Guidance can provide significant support to individuals during their transition between levels and sectors of education and training systems and from school to adult and working life; to young people re-entering education or training after leaving school early; to persons re-entering the labour market after periods of voluntary or involuntary unemployment, or homemaking; to workers where sectoral restructuring requires them to change the nature of their employment; and to older workers and migrants.
7. High quality guidance provision throughout life is a key component of education, training and employability strategies to attain the strategic goal of Europe becoming the world’s most dynamic knowledge based society by 2010.
RECALL THAT
1. The Report on the Concrete Future Objectives of Education and Training Systems endorsed by the Stockholm European Council in 2001 has identified access to guidance services, quality assurance of services, the role of guidance in human resource development, and guidance to facilitate mobility for learning and employment in Europe as priority areas for development in the implementation of the Education and Training 2010 work programme.