Raad van Onderwijsministers wil aandacht voor vrijheid van onderwijs en media in het digitale milieu, sociale inclusie van de jeugd en de rol van sport in de Europese economie (en)
At the EU Education, Youth, Culture and Sports (EYCS) Council meeting to be held on 25-26 November in Brussels, EU Ministers will devote attention to such important issues as Open Educational Resources and digital learning, future work on youth and better social inclusion of young people not in employment, education or training, good governance principles in sport, the return of unlawfully removed cultural objects and audiovisual questions, related to media freedom and pluralism. Lithuanian Ministers initiate a number of ministerial policy debates, which will be attended by high level external speakers.
Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis will chair the first part of the Council on 25 November, in which ministers will deliberate on Open Educational Resources, Massive Open Online Courses and digital learning.
“Education is at the forefront of society. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves where the European education is right now and where we would like it to be in the future with regard to new widely available digital learning resources, which undoubtedly will change the concept of education “, - says D. Pavalkis. The education ministers plan to adopt two sets of Council conclusions on effective leadership in education and the global dimension of European higher education.
In the youth part of the Council ministers plan to hold a political debate on future work plan of the EU in the field of youth and to adopt Council conclusions on better social inclusion of young people not in employment, education or training - a key priority of the Lithuanian Presidency.
„Council conclusions will put spotlight on the complicated youth situation and suggest solutions for policy initiatives, including prevention, education, non-formal education, with special emphasis to transition from education to the labour market. This will help the Member States to take effective actions solving youth unemployment and social inclusion problems", - says Algimanta Pabedinskienė, Minister of Social Security and Labour of Lithuania, chair of Youth Council.
On 26 November, in the Cultural and Audiovisual part of the Council, Chaired by Minister of Culture of Lithuania Šarūnas Birutis, the Ministers will seek a general approach on the Proposal for a Directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a member state. The aim is to improve the efficiency of mechanisms and lower costs in securing the return of cultural objects. Once adopted, this directive will change the 1993 Council Directive currently in place. The changes suggested by the new directive will be applied to cultural objects considered as national treasures that have been illegally removed from 1993 onwards and currently located in other EU member state.
Another important agenda item is adoption of Council conclusions on media freedom and pluralism in the digital environment, which stress the significance of media freedom and pluralism not just for democracy, but also for economic growth and sustainability.
During the Council Lithuania initiates a policy debate to discuss changes taking place in and technological influences on the media and audiovisual markets, and the meaning of those changes for regulatory environment.
The Sports Council is due to adopt Conclusions on contribution of sport to the EU economy and in particular to addressing youth unemployment and social inclusion. Ministers will hold a policy debate on good governance principles in sport and plan to adopt a recommendation on promoting health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA), which would be the first legal document in sport area.
According to the Chairman of the Sports Council Minister of Interior of Lithuania Alfonsas Dailis Barakauskas, this document is important, as it emphasizes the necessity to develop physical activity of Europeans and thereby to improve public health.