Education, youth, culture and audiovisual council

The session on culture will start at 10:00 on 20 November, presided over by Christine Albanel, the French Minister for Culture and Communication.

The 27 ministers will discuss the draft conclusions on the ‘European heritage label’, the promotion of cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue in the external relations of the European Union and its Member States, and architecture’s contribution to sustainable development.

The director of the archives of France will then speak about archive theft.

The European Commissioner for Multilingualism, Leonard Orban, will give a presentation to the ministers on multilingualism. Christine Albanal will present the results of the conference on multilingualism held at the Sorbonne in Paris on 26 September last.

The EYC Council will continue with a session on audiovisual matters, which should see the adoption of the draft conclusions on the ‘European digital library and creative content online’, along with the adoption of the ‘Safer Internet’ programme. The ministers are also due to exchange views on ‘the internet and culture’
After the Council, the ceremony to launch the European digital library ‘Europeana’ will take place at the Charles de Lorraine Palais, at the Royal Library of Belgium.

The ‘youth’ session of the EYC Council is scheduled for 15:00 on 20 November. It should see the 27 ministers for youth, presided over by Bernard Laporte, the French Minister of State for Sport, Youth and the Voluntary Sector, adopt the following:

– the draft resolution on the health and well-being of young people. This resolution advocates giving specific and transverse consideration to young people in public health policies and to health issues in youth policies. It emphasises the need for young people to be actively involved in matters concerning their health.

– the draft recommendation on the mobility of young volunteers in Europe. This text aims to develop the possibilities for young volunteers to exercise this activity in another Member State of the European Union through the creation of networks, synergies and exchanges between European organisers of voluntary activities.

This Council will also give rise to an exchange of opinions on the action taken at European level in the area of youth. In a public debate, the ministers will discuss the mobility of young people in Europe, the future framework for European cooperation with regard to young people and the European Youth Pact.

The Council will be preceded by an informal forum during which the ministers of the presidency trio (France, Czech Republic, Sweden) and the previous presidency (Slovenia), along with the Commissioner for Youth, representatives of the General Secretariat of the Council and the European Parliament will debate with the European Youth Forum, the platform of national youth councils and youth NGOs in Europe.

The Council will continue on 21 November with the session devoted to education, which will be preceded by a meeting on the evening of 20 November, with Xavier Darcos, the French Minister for Education, and his Slovene, Czech and Swedish counterparts, the social partners and the Commission, for an initial discussion on the subjects on the agenda for the next day’s session.

The first session of 21 November will focus on education in schools and technical and vocational training.

In this session, chaired by Xavier Darcos, several draft texts, drawn up on the initiative of the French Presidency, will be proposed for adoption by the Council. These texts cover the following areas: education and technical and vocational training (‘future priorities for enhanced European cooperation’); multilingualism; guidance (‘better inclusion of lifelong guidance in education and lifelong training strategies’); educational cooperation (‘preparing young people for the 21st century: an agenda for European cooperation on schools’). These last two topics will be the subject of debates between ministers.
The Presidency will also give a briefing on two other texts on education and vocational training (the establishment of a European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training and a European common quality assurance framework), which could also be finally adopted by the end of the year.

Over lunch, the ministers will discuss handicaps at school.

The afternoon session, which will be presided over by Valérie Pécresse, the French Minister for Higher Education and Research, will focus in particular on higher education and youth mobility.
In this context, the Council will be invited to exchange views and adopt draft conclusions on this subject. The Presidency will also give a briefing on the Erasmus Mundus II programme, which could be finally adopted by the end of the year.

 

Dates & Venue: November 20-21, Brussels

Find out more: www.ue2008.fr/PFUE/lang/en/accueil/PFUE-11