Policies

Committee on Culture and Education

We firmly believe that culture has become a cross-cutting political field affecting most of the EU's policies: It is crucial for our Group to put culture at the centre of political discussion in order to develop our cultural diversity and safeguard European heritage for future generations. We have been emphasising the social dimension of culture and its economic dimension.

We have always played a key role in education policies. The population trend, as well as economic and social changes call for a greater adaptation of qualifications and skills in private, social and working lives. We are convinced that education and training play a vital role in the Lisbon strategy in establishing key human capital for economic growth and social cohesion. We are furthermore campaigning for concrete practical steps to promote the mobility of students in Europe, making progress on the goals outlined in the Bologna process and the recognition of diplomas.

We also pay particular attention to sport. We have always campaigned for the introduction of the relevant legal base for sport at European level. The EPP-ED has been stressing the socio-cultural and educational role of sport, sport as a means of promoting tolerance, respect of rules, differences and social inclusion. Measures to combat doping, violence and corruption in sport are also a priority.

The audio-visual sector is gaining more economic weight and is an important actor in the social and cultural field. While preparing the Television without Frontiers report, we have been seeking to address the significant technological and market developments of recent years while ensuring a competitive level playing field between media service providers and guaranteeing culture diversity and protection of minors.

The EPP-ED Group cares about young people and promotes a more unified and coherent approach to youth issues with emphasis on their social and professional integration.

We are deeply involved in European programmes on multilingualism. We are convinced that multilingualism is meant to unite European countries by creating new bridges and reinforcing the principle of 'unity in diversity'. Our major goals are to assure equality between the official languages of the EU, to promote foreign language education and a comprehensive policy on minority languages.

We believe that these issues appeal to our citizens and families as we all have a personal vested interest in them. Everyone should have a stake in our common cultural heritage and tradition of education for children as well as for adults. We are here to work for these issues. They deserve to be given our highest priority.