Culture and education through national parliaments: European policies
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly
debate on 24 April 2013 (15th Sitting) (see Doc. 13142, report of the Committee on Culture, Science, Education
and Media, rapporteur: Ms Brasseur). Text
adopted by the Assembly on 24 April 2013 (15th Sitting).
1. The Parliamentary Assembly reaffirms
the importance of culture and education as essential pillars of
our democratic systems and of a cohesive society. National parliaments
have the responsibility to deliver, in these fields, policies which
effectively uphold our common core values – human rights, democracy
and the rule of law – ensure adequate access to education and support
participation in cultural life, creativity and innovation.
2. Enhanced policies for culture and education should encourage
the development of employment-oriented competencies, but also promote
the ethical and political values which are related to the main aims
of the Council of Europe, bearing in mind the importance of the
humanities and the right of everyone to take part in cultural life.
3. National parliaments should build their policies for culture
and education on the texts adopted by the Committee of Ministers
and the Assembly. They should also take greater advantage of policy
instruments and tools developed by the Council of Europe (such as
the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, the Compendium of Cultural
Policies and Trends in Europe and the Intercultural Cities Index)
and, if appropriate, by the European Union (such as the recently
launched “Rethinking Education” strategy).
4. The Assembly therefore calls on national parliaments to:
4.1 review policy making in the
fields of culture and education with a view to putting more emphasis on
the long-term perspective and to delivering a coherent strategy,
paying attention to the interconnections between culture, education
and other policy areas such as youth, social cohesion policies,
employment, health and protection of the environment;
4.2 re-engage in a broad debate on policies for culture and
education, encouraging citizen participation in the debate and the
involvement of the relevant stakeholders in policy reforms;
4.3 ensure that legislation in these fields deals in a holistic
manner with key challenges, including:
4.3.1 promoting
social cohesion and a culture of inclusion;
4.3.2 supporting sustainable socio-economic development within
a globalised market economy and an endangered environment;
4.4 implement the policy guidelines agreed upon at the level
of the Council of Europe and establish monitoring and reporting
arrangements to regularly assess the impact of measures adopted
by the competent governmental authorities;
4.5 adopt concrete measures to enhance intercultural dialogue
and encourage cultural and educational exchanges across borders,
removing administrative barriers to such exchanges;
4.6 introduce intercultural learning and practice in the initial
and in-service training of teachers and educators;
4.7 take into consideration the Moscow Agenda, presented in
the Final Statement of the Conference of the 10th Council of Europe
Conference of Ministers responsible for Culture (Moscow, 15-16 April 2013),
in defining national cultural policies.
5. National delegations to the Assembly are encouraged to set
up, in their respective parliaments, the arrangements necessary
to provide adequate information about the relevant activities of
the Council of Europe, and if appropriate of the European Union,
especially activities in the field of culture and education.
6. The Assembly invites national parliaments to reinforce interparliamentary
co-operation in the fields of culture and education at regional
and European levels, including co-operation with the European Parliament and
with the Assembly.
7. Finally, the Assembly supports the recent proposal by the
Secretary General of the Council of Europe to initiate work on a
European framework of competences for democratic citizenship, human
rights and intercultural understanding, and suggests including it
in the Organisation’s Programme of Activities for the next biennium,
insisting on the importance of intercultural dialogue.
