Procedure completed
Lead committee dossier: CULT/4/09518
Legal Basis RoP 132
Activites
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1998/06/01
Final act published in Official Journal
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1998/05/13
Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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T4-0276/1998
summary
In adopting the report by Mr Roy PERRY (EPP, UK) on a 'Europe of Knowledge' Parliament regretted the lack of definition of the basic conditions which are essential if the Europe of Knowledge objective is to be achieved, i.e. a substantial increase in the budget, a rapid generalization of access to new technologies and a bold language-teaching policy. There was therefore a need to define a common framework of activities, coordination and monitoring at Union level in this field and to establish, as proposed by the Commission, a framework of responsibilities shared by the Community, the Member States and the other parties involved (educational, social, economic and local partners and Community organizations). It also considered that the Commission's communication did not provide adequate details of future strategy leading to a Europe of Knowledge. Parliament therefore proposed a series of operational initiatives, advocating in particular a significant increase in the financial resources allocated to EU training and youth policies. In view of the importance of this policy for the development of a citizens' Europe, Parliament even advocated the doubling of the relevant budget. It fully supported the Commission's aim of limiting the number of objectives in the present programmes and believed that the current activities should be considered as an integrated package of measures contributing to the achievement of a defined goal. It hoped that all the Union's policies and programmes in this area would involve disabled people and called on the Commission to improve the management and application procedures for the various programmes. Although favouring greater decentralization of decision-making, Parliament did not wish too great a delegation of decision-making which would result in decreased visibility of Community action. Regretting the fact that the debate was taking place without a real evaluation of the current programmes, it suggested that forthcoming programmes should act as real transnational 'European laboratories for innovation'. It urged the Commission to draw up a report on the relationship between the EU vocational training programmes and the reformed ESF. It also stressed that no educational funding should be used to finance structural projects. Parliament also stressed two other important points. Firstly the need to continue the distinct Community programmes with their existing names (Socrates, Leonardo, Youth for Europe and Voluntary Service) as this facilitated public recognition and ensured continuity. However it called for better coordination of certain activities, in particular between Socrates and Leonardo and even advocated the merger of certain specific initiatives (e.g. the former Comett programme within Leonardo and the Erasmus initiative within Socrates). It also hoped for a separate programme for youth, distinct from the education and training programmes. Secondly it stressed the importance of encouraging the acquisition of a good level of knowledge of Community languages, especially those in widest use, while recognizing the need to preserve the rich diversity of languages in Europe. It hoped therefore that the new generation of initiatives would include a major campaign to promote language skills and the dissemination of appropriate educational software. It also once again raised the matter of a European statute for students in order to enable students and teachers to resolve problems concerning social security and mobility. It strongly supported actions seeking to promote understanding between differing countries and cultures both within the European Union and beyond (CEEC, Mediterranean countries) and the inclusion of a European dimension in the school curriculum (through the Comenius aspect of the Socrates programme). Lastly it called on the Commission to play a key role in stimulating the development and dissemination of education software and multimedia material with a European content. �
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T4-0276/1998
summary
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1998/05/12
Debate in Parliament
- 1998/04/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
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1997/12/15
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
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1997/11/12
Non-legislative basic document published
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COM(1997)0563
summary
OBJECTIVE: to set out the guidelines for future Community action in the areas of education and training for the period 2000-2006. SUBSTANCE: future policy on education and training will be based around two major concerns: - strengthening knowledge policies by stressing the initiatives associated with research and training and innovation and developing lifelong learning activities, - promoting employment by raising the basis of knowledge and skills of Europe's citizens. This new generation of activities will have three main characteristics: 1) a limited number of objectives: it will be necessary to increase access for citizens to education resources, to provide innovation in these resources (e.g. second-chance schools or the accreditation of skills) and better dissemination of good practice; 2) more focused activities: six major types of action will be proposed and developed at transnational level: - physical mobility involving the whole European educational area (students, school pupils, young people, trainers, associations, the voluntary sector, etc.) and including arrangements for the recognition of diplomas and skills acquired, - virtual mobility: promotion of new educational tools, their production and dissemination, - building up cooperation networks to permit mutual exchange of experience, - promotion of language skills and understanding of different cultures (transversal activities), - innovation through pilot projects seeking to create new education and training products, - improvement of Community sources of reference with regard to education and training policies in the Member States (key data, etc.); 3) streamlined management of initiatives: the idea is to encourage decentralized management of activities and to delegate as far as possible responsibility for the daily management of initiatives. This increased decentralisation will also involve measures seeking to strengthen the Commission's role in stimulation and coordination and in follow up and assessment of the activities undertaken. The Commission intends to raise the visibility of Community actions and to ensure that certain educational products and activities benefit from the award of a European label based on criteria of quality and transnational cooperation. It also hopes to encourage cofinancing with public and private sources of funding and to simplify radically access to Community aid (reducing decision-making time, simplifying administrative procedures and reducing the number of single-establishment contracts as part of a global grant approach). The Commission also stresses partnerships: it wishes to integrate all the parties concerned, whatever the decision-making level, in the process of establishing a Europe of knowledge: the Member States, educational partners, social partners, economic partners, regional and local partners and partners in the voluntary sector. Lastly, if these activities are to be developed, new budgetary resources will be needed and greater complementarity with other activities and Community policies (e.g. structural policy). �
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COM(1997)0563
summary
Documents
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(1997)0563
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A4-0166/1998
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0276/1998
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