"Twenty years of European cultural co-operation"

Recommendation 567 (1969)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 1 October 1969 (11th Sitting) (see Doc. 2645, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 1 October 1969 (11th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having noted the report of its Committee on Culture and Education on "Twenty years of European cultural co-operation" (Doc. 2645);

2. Recording its interest in the work of the 6th Conference of European Ministers of Education, held at Versailles from 20 to 22 May 1969, and its particular satisfaction at the very concrete proposals and suggestions made by the Chairman in his opening speech;

3. Believing that these proposals and suggestions are of a nature to reactivate on a new basis European cultural co-operation - the real spearhead of all economic, social and scientific progress in the member countries - and recalling in this connection its Recommendation 497 (1967) on the strengthening and rationalisation of international cultural co-operation;

4. Considering, moreover, the 1968 annual report of the Council for Cultural Co-operation (Doc. 2590) which marks a new step forward in defining the priorities in its programme;

5. Emphasising that on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Council of Europe it is urgently necessary to rethink European cultural co-operation along constantly forward-looking lines and in terms of major targets whose attainment would signify a real cultural renaissance of Europe as an entity;

6. Desirous, looking back over the past, of recalling the fundamental role played by the European Cultural Convention and paying tribute to the activities of the Committee of Cultural Experts which contributed largely in the first stage of European co-operation to awareness of the fact that Europe has a common civilisation, thus creating the preconditions for the advance of the European idea;

7. Recalling that in a second phase, by setting up a Cultural Fund and by creating the Council for Cultural Co-operation, the Council of Europe made very substantial progress towards co-operation at once more multilateral and more technical, which also covered education;

8. Paying tribute to the CCC, which in spite of certain inherent structural weaknesses, plays a useful part as catalyst and laboratory through its confrontations of national experiences, its studies, its research and its recommendations aimed at helping the member countries to increase their educational and cultural potential;

9. Considering, however, that in the next twenty years the Council of Europe, in a society characterised by rapid and profound changes which require a constant effort of readaptation and restructuring, will have to pursue a forward-looking educational and cultural programme based on:

permanent education, which means organising education so that man can participate in and adapt himself to changes during a lifelong process, and which should also co-ordinate all the factors which go to make up training;

cultural development, which means giving everyone the best opportunities for cultural advancement by providing a stimulating and enriching environment, as well as all other means favouring the full expansion of the personality;

10. Aware of the fact that both permanent education and cultural development presuppose complete, integrated and coherent systems of co-operation which are at present lacking in Europe,

11. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers review the structures of European cultural cooperation along the following lines, by:

a Conference of European Ministers of Education Giving the Conference of European Ministers of Education a permanent character so that it can define and determine the priorities of a European policy in the field of education;

b B. European Office of Education Setting up, in accordance with a procedure worked out by the Council of Europe, a European Office of Education under the technical control of the Ministers of Education of member countries. The Office would be financed at the beginning by government contributions for education paid into the Council of Europe budget, to which private funds could be added for specific tasks. This Office would consist of:

a small number of committees covering all stages and types of education, from pre-school to out-ofschool activities, and including secondary and post-secondary education;

Centres attached to it, for example a Documentation and Information Centre, a Research and Innovation Centre and a Centre for University Technology. One of the first tasks of the European Office of Education would be to work out a European "teacher and student" statute;

c Council for Cultural Co-operation Inviting the CCC to give priority to preparing and implementing a long-term programme of cultural development and to creating the requisite structures.