The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Doris PACK (EPP-ED, DE) on new challenges for the circus as part of European culture. (Please see the summary of 12/07/2005.) Parliament called on the Commission to introduce specific measures to ensure that the circus is recognised as part of European culture, and urged the Member States who have not already done so to recognise the circus as part of European culture.

School education and vocational training: Parliament asked the Commission, together with the organisations representing the parents of children from travelling communities, to introduce mechanisms for the cooperation of the Member States in order to promote an adequate education for children from travelling communities regardless of the Member State in which they happen to be. There must be a commitment to improving the welcome extended to such families and to stepping up the dialogue with school establishments in order to raise parents' awareness of the need to enrol their children in school, with such establishments appointing someone to take charge of this communication and monitoring. Parliament urged pilot projects to determine appropriate models for the schooling of children from travelling communities. Parliament asked the Commission and the Member States to carry out an information campaign to guarantee quality assurance in education and vocational training and to ensure that the education and vocational training of children from travelling communities are based on the standards applicable to conventional education and professional-training systems.

Temporary structures: The Commission was asked , to create a standardisation mandate for the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to prepare a comprehensive set of standards relevant to mobile circus facilities, including finalisation of current work on the Safety Standard for Temporary Structures (such as tents. This will facilitate the movement of circuses among the Member States and thereby contribute to the conservation of the classical European circus and public safety.

Circus workers: mobility, employment of third country nationals: Parliament asked the Commission to carry out an analysis of the current visa and work permit issuing systems for peripatetic artists and on that basis to draw up a proposal for a European regulation in this area. It made suggestions for the content of such a regulation.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by Doris PACK (EPP-ED, DE) on new challenges for the circus as part of European culture. (Please see the summary of 12/07/2005.) Parliament called on the Commission to introduce specific measures to ensure that the circus is recognised as part of European culture, and urged the Member States who have not already done so to recognise the circus as part of European culture.

School education and vocational training: Parliament asked the Commission, together with the organisations representing the parents of children from travelling communities, to introduce mechanisms for the cooperation of the Member States in order to promote an adequate education for children from travelling communities regardless of the Member State in which they happen to be. There must be a commitment to improving the welcome extended to such families and to stepping up the dialogue with school establishments in order to raise parents' awareness of the need to enrol their children in school, with such establishments appointing someone to take charge of this communication and monitoring. Parliament urged pilot projects to determine appropriate models for the schooling of children from travelling communities. Parliament asked the Commission and the Member States to carry out an information campaign to guarantee quality assurance in education and vocational training and to ensure that the education and vocational training of children from travelling communities are based on the standards applicable to conventional education and professional-training systems.

Temporary structures: The Commission was asked , to create a standardisation mandate for the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to prepare a comprehensive set of standards relevant to mobile circus facilities, including finalisation of current work on the Safety Standard for Temporary Structures (such as tents. This will facilitate the movement of circuses among the Member States and thereby contribute to the conservation of the classical European circus and public safety.

Circus workers: mobility, employment of third country nationals: Parliament asked the Commission to carry out an analysis of the current visa and work permit issuing systems for peripatetic artists and on that basis to draw up a proposal for a European regulation in this area. It made suggestions for the content of such a regulation.

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by Doris PACK ( EPP-ED , DE ) on new challenges for the circus as part of European culture. The report highlighted the fact that cross-border mobility was a key feature of circuses and that circus activities , which are currently regulated at national level, should be the subject of EU measures. It also urged the Commission to introduce specific measures "to ensure that the circus is recognised as forming part of European culture".

The report also addressed the problem of schooling for children from travelling communities and called on the Commission to set up pilot projects to determine appropriate models for the education of such children. MEPs suggested that the projects should include developing and supporting e-learning and distance learning, developing concepts for independent/self-reliant learning, introducing pedagogical monitoring tools, developing a teacher profile for tutoring children from travelling communities, and the establishment of temporary measures to remedy the academic difficulties facing children of itinerant people.

The committee also recommended that a mandate be conferred upon the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) to prepare a comprehensive set of standards for mobile circus facilities and finalise current work on the Safety Standard for Temporary Structures (such as tents). This would result in harmonised standards, making it easier for circuses to move among the Member States, and thereby contribute to the conservation of the European classical circus as well as ensuring public safety.

Lastly, the Commission was urged to draw up a European regulation governing the issue of visa and work permits for peripatetic artists in order to eliminate existing conditions which are hard for artists with short-term contracts to meet (e.g. the requirement to prove that there is a lack of equally-qualified people within the EU). The report suggested that the new legislation should make it possible to issue short-term visas/residence permits valid for up to 12 months, while taking "due care" to ensure that these provisions are not abused for the purposes of human trafficking.