Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-05-Speech-4-024"
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Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like, first of all, to thank the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport, and particularly its rapporteur, for its commitment and also for the constructive criticism that has been made. This report confirms, if confirmation were needed, the importance that Parliament attaches to our action in the field of lifelong learning.
At the next Education Council, which is due to take place in November, a resolution must be adopted. This will also be debated by the governments of the 30 countries that will be meeting at the end of the year. We will, therefore, be extending the issue of education and lifelong learning to encompass our future partners in the European Union.
As far as my own involvement is concerned, I shall say this: my staff are in the process of implementing the communication. A European website on the various options for learning will be up and running before the end of the year. In forthcoming weeks we shall be launching other actions such as the creation of European learning region networks and the establishment of a database on best practices. These will all be very practical measures because we have studied the problems and we understand them. We know what we need to do, so let us make a start!
I am also pleased to note that Parliament supports the broad principles that the Commission has emphasised in its communication, in particular with regard to the broad objectives that lifelong learning seeks to achieve and the need for every citizen, and I stress, every citizen, to have access to education and to lifelong learning. We know that, today, we are far from achieving the target: only 8% of European adults have access to lifelong learning and almost two out of ten young people leave the educational system without any qualifications. This is an unsustainable situation common to all our Member States. On this matter, I am relieved to note that most of the ministers are addressing this problem, which is already a scandal, before the new school year starts. What is needed, therefore, to resolve these two problems – education and lifelong learning – is the mobilisation of all the actors involved and of the financial resources needed.
Mr President, Parliament addresses a number of points in its report. I should like to highlight three of them: basic skills, investment and the European area of education and lifelong learning. With regard to basic skills, our objective is clear: every European citizen must have these skills in order to be able to learn, work and live in the knowledge-based society. I say ‘live’ because personal development and the capacity to play a role in our society, in our democracies are also important. I am thinking, in particular, of the most disadvantaged, who also have to learn to read, write and count. We know, however, that illiteracy is still a major problem and that the main obstacle to social integration, as Mrs Hermange’s report also emphasised, is this lack of basic knowledge. I shall also add to this basic knowledge the ‘digital divide’ between those who have access to the new technologies and those who do not. Lastly, I should like, if I may, to return to one of my favourite themes: the failure to acquire foreign language skills and the lack of personal and social skills.
The Member States and the Commission are currently working on the issue of basic skills by implementing the work programme on objectives for education and training systems. Together, we have identified the basic skills needed and there will be an exchange of best practices in order to see, together, what works, what does not work, what can done by certain people and what must be worked on by everyone. The conclusions of this work will be included in the interim report which the Education Council and the Commission present at the European Council in spring 2004. Mr Chairman of the Committee on Culture, as promised, your committee will be involved in this.
My second point is funding. This is a delicate matter, as you know, for which the Member States are largely responsible. If we want to create a genuine system of lifelong learning, if we want to translate our political ambitions into practical actions, we, not only the Member States but also the social partners, will clearly have to spend more. It is indeed true, Mrs Van Brempt, that where lifelong learning is concerned, we are leaving the framework of formal education and entering that of informal education, and, as a result, are working with partners which are not traditionally academic.
We must, therefore, start by defining national strategies. In this field, the Member States have made some progress, especially those which lagged the furthest behind. What needs to be done now is to improve the coherence of the strategies – a coherence which is, most of the time, I am bound to say, lacking – and to translate these strategies into practical actions. This is where we must develop the partnerships that you underline in your report. Because lifelong learning is a shared responsibility, national strategies must be the result of agreements at all levels, including at the local level, and between all operators, in particular the social partners. Unfortunately, attempts to achieve this are very inconsistent and not nearly forceful enough.
My third point concerns the European area. Although responsibility for implementing these policies falls primarily to the Member States, the Community itself has a role to play in creating a European area of education and lifelong learning. An area in which citizens, whoever they are and whatever country they come from, can transfer their skills and their qualifications from one country to another, for the purpose of studying, training, working, getting involved or just living. We now know, and we have already discussed this on several occasions, that a number of obstacles to the creation of such an area exist, mainly with regard to the recognition of qualifications.
A great deal of progress has been made in this field, however, and rest assured, ladies and gentlemen, that the Commission is working on this, to ensure that we achieve the recognition of qualifications and that, especially in the field of vocational training, we are able to open up new perspectives and use new common working methods.
A political initiative has been taken to strengthen cooperation between Member States in the field of vocational training. This is generally known as the Bruges process, because it is in the beautiful city of Bruges that national ministers and the Commission decided to adopt this approach. Various projects are currently underway, such as that established by the former French Minister, Mr Mélenchon, which is a model of its kind. New initiatives are, therefore, being taken, progress is being made, and I must say that, despite all the difficulties that exist, governments are moving in the direction described because they have understood the absolute need for such measures."@en1
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