European co-operation in the field of culture and education

Recommendation 649 (1971)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 6 October 1971 (12th Sitting) (see Doc. 3017,Doc. 3017, report of the Committee of Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 6 October 1971 (12th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Recalling its proposals for restructuring and reinforcing European cultural cooperation, and in particular its Recommendation 567 (1969) on "Twenty years of European cultural co-operation" ;

2. Confirming that its proposals are designed to re-establish European educational and cultural co-operation on fresh foundations on the eve of the enlargement of the European Communities ;

3. Conscious that with this in mind governments will find it necessary to review the terms of reference and functions of European intergovernmental organisations, and that it is therefore more important than ever to insist on the Council of Europe's special task in the field of culture and education, and in particular with regard to the definition and application of a European policy for permanent education and cultural development ;

4. Increasingly concerned by the fact that in the educational field Europe is lagging behind what has been accomplished in the economic sphere because it has been unable to avail itself of a complete, integrated and coherent system of co-operation, and convinced that the desire for the widest possible cultural unity in Europe should lead to the search for such systems, not in a community restricted to a small number of countries, but in the wider framework of the States parties to the European Cultural Convention ;

5. Observing that by their very nature problems concerned with education and culture cannot suitably be dealt with by a community as such, and emphasising on the other hand the admirable flexibility of the system instituted in the Council of Europe whereby a certain number of governments are able to co-operate in the framework of so-called "partial" or "limited" agreements with a view to carrying out priority projects over a number of years, by means of which the governments concerned are enabled to intensify their co-operation in a given field in a way which enables all the member States to benefit from the results obtained ;

6. Believing that, in a European society which is undergoing a swift and profound transformation, educational and cultural cooperation, which is the true spear-head of all economic, social and scientific progress, is an urgent and important problem which justifies a thorough examination at the highest governmental level ;

7. Expressing its regret that the Committee of Ministers has been so slow to recognise the seriousness of this problem, but nevertheless noting with satisfaction that at the meeting of the Joint Committee on 9 June 1971 there appears to have been a general awareness in that body of the pressing need to provide for the requirements of European co-operation in the field of education and for closer co-ordination between all the authorities concerned ;

8. Realising that, though the establishment of a European Office of Education as advocated in Recommendation 567 (1969) must be regarded as a long-term objective, there is an immediate need to find a practical solution by conferring at once on the CCC the task of performing the functions of such an Office on an experimental basis ;

9. Aware that in this case it would be essential to review if not the terms of reference at least the composition of the delegations to the CCC as well as the vital problem concerning the relations between that body and the Conference of European Ministers of Education ;

10. Once again deploring that the resources of the Cultural Fund are entirely inadequate for Europe's present needs in this field, and emphasising that it is illusory in such circumstances to rely, as does the Committee of Ministers in its provision al reply to Recommendation 567 (1969), "on the CCC to meet the clearly increasing requirements for cultural and educational co-operation in Europe" ;

11. Considering in this context that the CCC should not limit itself to mere study and research, but assume certain political responsibilities which alone would enable it to pass beyond the stage of mere international co-operation and reach that of common redefinition of national policies ;

12. Believing that, in order to facilitate such a development, it is necessary to provide the system of co-operation with "political leadership" and put the CCC under the technical control of the Conference of European Ministers of Education and a similar Conference of European Ministers of Culture, the establishment of which is becoming increasingly indispensable if we are to encourage a long-term policy of cultural development ,

13. Recommends the Committee of Ministers :

a to call upon the Conference of European Ministers of Education :

to ensure to the fullest possible extent the co-ordination from the planning stage onwards of the activities of the various international organisations concerned with the field of education ;

to exercise, in accordance with Recommendation 567 (1969), a technical control over the CCC with regard to the development of education ;

b to establish a Conference of European Ministers of Culture whose principal task would be to lay down, for the guidance of the CCC, in association with representatives of any other ministries which might be concerned, the priorities for a European programme of cultural development ;

c to instruct the CCC to perform, for an experimental period of five years, the functions allocated to a European Office of Information in accordance with the letter and spirit of Recommendation 567 (1969), and for this purpose :

to revise the composition of the delegations to the CCC by ensuring the predominance of the educational and cultural elements through the presence at the head of these delegations of officials from the immediate entourage of the European Ministers of Education and of the Ministers responsible for culture ;

to establish a plan with a view to at least tripling over a period of five years the governmental contributions to the Cultural Fund, so as to permit that body to provide adequate finance for the harmonious expansion of a European programme for permanent education and long-term cultural development in consonance with the aims of the Council of Europe.