Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-091"
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"en.20051130.12.3-091"2
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". Madam President, in reply to Mr Sifunakis, the Council confirms its continuing commitment to the promotion of the ideals of peace and human understanding through sport. Heads of State and Government at the Brussels European Council of 12 December 2003 supported the idea of an Olympic truce and welcomed the United Nations' resolution on this.
For the second Millennium Development Goal, the first priority for the EU in education for development is basic education, in particular primary education. The EU is firmly committed towards achieving universal primary education and gender equality in education by 2015. This is implemented at three levels. Firstly, through international institutions, the EU supports actively the UN initiatives 'Education for All' and the 'Fast-Track Initiative', in partnership with other donors – UNESCO and the World Bank – as well as UNICEF in this field. Secondly, through interventions at country level, increasingly linked to national education programmes and based on funding and policy dialogue with national authorities. Thirdly, through supporting NGOs for projects oriented towards basic education. The EU also supports non-formal education of young people in the framework of the Youth Programme.
As regards Millennium Development Goal Three, the EU is also very active in international fora, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the International Conference on Population and Development. One of the key priorities in policy terms in promoting gender equality is granting access for girls and women to education, including physical education. Many EU Member States support girls' education programmes, such as UNICEF's Accelerated Girls' Education Strategy.
In this context, the Council welcomes and strongly supports the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly at its 60th session in September 2005, which emphasises the role of both formal and informal education in the achievement of poverty eradication and other Millennium Development Goals.
The Council reaffirms the commitment to support developing country efforts to ensure that all children have access to completely free and compulsory primary education of good quality, to eliminate gender inequality and imbalance and to renew efforts to improve girls' education. Lastly, it sets out the commitment to promote education for peace and human development.
In addition, the Troika of Education and Sports Ministers stressed, during the launch of the European Year of Education through Sport on 29 January 2004, the importance of the Olympic truce and its message of peace, tolerance and friendship, its unique place in the lives of citizens and its positive role in the promotion of friendship and the breaking down of social and cultural barriers.
In reply to Mrs Martens, the Council would initially like to point out to the Honourable Member that activities relating purely to sport do not fall within the scope of the Treaty establishing the European Community and that the Community has no specific competence in the field of sport. The Council considers, however, that measures and events related to sports can be a great help in promoting education, health, social cohesion, and in combating discrimination and ensuring an inclusive society.
The Council would also like to note that the educational values of sport were acknowledged by the Nice European Council of December 2000. This acknowledgement confirmed previous declarations – in particular that attached to the Amsterdam Treaty – which emphasised the social significance of sport and its role in forging identity and bringing people together, and the Council's resolution of 17 December 1999, in which sporting activities were shown to have educational value, which can help strengthen civil society. On 5 May 2003, the Council subsequently adopted a resolution on the social value of sport for young people.
The Council firmly believes in the valuable role that sport has to play in developing countries in promoting education, health and community cohesion. It therefore supports the designation of 2005 as the UN International Year of Sport and Physical Education and welcomes the efforts made to promote the use of sport as a tool for development.
Poverty eradication and sustainable development are the overarching objectives of both the 2000 EC development policy statement and the revised European Consensus on Development, agreed by Development Ministers at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on 22 November 2005.
Although education and health did not feature in the 2000 DPS, the revised European Consensus on Development Policy highlighted human development as an area for Community action. We recognise the value of sport in promoting a healthy lifestyle and in preventing many lifestyle-associated diseases. We support country efforts that use sport as an entry point to Community education on better health and HIV prevention.
In particular, the Cotonou ACP-EU Partnership Agreement foresees cooperation and self-support policies, measures and operations aimed at helping community-based institutions to give children the opportunity to develop their physical potential.
Sport and physical education should mainly be considered in the context of Millennium Development Goal Two to achieve universal primary education by 2015 and Millennium Development Goal Three to eliminate gender disparity in all levels of education, no later than 2015."@en1
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