Recent developments and outlooks in European cultural co-operation

Resolution 378 (1968)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 24 September 1968 (13th Sitting) (see Doc. 2455, report of the Committee on Culture and Education). Text adopted by the Assembly on 24 September 1968 (13th Sitting).

The Assembly,

1. Having considered the report on recent developments and prospects in European cultural co-operation (Doc. 2455) ;

2. Having taken note with interest of the report of the ad hoc Conference of European Ministers of Education on the school population explosion (Doc. 2447) ;

3. Noting also the 6th annual report of the Council for Cultural Co-operation and the Cultural Fund (Doc. 2380) ;

4. Considering that it is a part of its functions to indicate to the governments the major objectives in cultural and educational matters that Europe should pursue, and that might be entrusted to the appropriate international organisations and in particular the Council of Europe and the CCC ;

Long-term objectives :

5. Recalling its Recommendation 497 (1967) on the strengthening and rationalisation of international cultural co-operation, and Recommendation 516 (1968) on the function and future of the Council of Europe ;

6. Stressing that these recommendations are fundamental, representing a coherent set of ideas on the basis of which the whole system of European co-operation needs to be re-thought (especially in cultural and educational matters), bearing in mind the Europe of the future ;

7. Recalling the major objectives of these recommendations :

Extension of the intergovernmental cooperation system of the Council of Europe by establishing regular links between conferences of technical Ministers (such as the Conference of European Ministers of Education) and the existing executive organs (such as the CCC) ;

Measures enabling the Council of Europe to carry out the task of forecasting, in order to meet the requirements and aspirations of the Europe of tomorrow ;

Priority for a cultural and educational programme :

cultural development ;

permanent education, with its natural extension in a programme devoted to :

improving man's physical environment (regional planning, conservation of nature and natural resources, preservation of monuments and groups and areas of buildings of historical or artistic interest) ;

8. Aware these recommendations involve a complex set of problems which will not be settled by improvised means but demand a sustained and systematic drive on the part of the member countries' governments to promote European integration ;

9. Noting that the latest communication from the Committee of Ministers (Doc. 2388), makes no reference to action taken on the above-mentioned recommendations, and hoping that the lengthy procedure of consideration by the Committee of Ministers is a result of the time needed to consider in detail the issues raised in these recommendations ;

Short-term objectives :

10. In the belief that before the major objectives set out in Recommendations 497 (1967) and 516 (1968) can be achieved, it is essential that the CCC should have its original functions and thus its effectiveness restored, and that this problem is in urgent need of a solution if it is not to undermine the usefulness of European cultural cooperation ;

11. Emphasising in this connection that certain shortcomings that have come to light in the operation of the CCC are preventing this body from fulfilling its true role, which is to ensure that decisions are taken and machinery set in motion in order that the aims that the Council of Europe has set itself in educational and cultural matters are achieved ;

12. Reaffirming the importance it attaches to the problems of young people, and desirous of helping to dispel present unrest in the universities ;

13. Taking the view that new bases are needed for reviving the European University project ;

14. Noting with satisfaction that, as urged in Assembly Recommendation 365 (1963), the Committee of Ministers has supported in Resolution (68) 16 the proposal for the organisation of a Conference of Ministers most directly responsible for the preservation and rehabilitation of groups and areas of buildings of historical or artistic interest,

15. Resolves :

a to call on its members, and especially the members of the Committee on Culture and Education and of the Committee on Parliamentary and Public Relations, to bring suitable pressure to bear on the governments and their national parliaments to ensure that Recommendations 497 (1967) and 516 (1968) are implemented, with due regard for the arguments set out in the report on International Cultural Co-operation in a Changing Society (Doc. 2277) and the report on the Function and Future of the Council of Europe (Doc. 2273) respectively ;

b to instruct its representatives on the Council for Cultural Co-operation to expound its views on a general recasting of the system of international cultural co-operation and the reorganisation of the CCC's working methods, taking due account of the constructive proposals put forward by the Secretariat ;

16. Urges the Committee on Culture and Education :

a to continue its work concerning young people and university unrest ;

b to reconsider the question of the European University, bearing in mind the entirely new background against which higher education problems should be viewed, following the disturbance in the spring of 1968 ;

c to ensure that a European policy for the preservation and rehabilitation of groups and areas of buildings of historical or artistic interest is drawn up and implemented.