Education, Youth, Culture and Sports (EYCS)

One of the missions of the European Union is to contribute to the development of quality education and to the flowering of Member States' cultures, bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for defining the content of education, as well as their national and regional cultural diversity. Driven by this purpose the EU has established a framework of cooperation, in order to allow Member States to exchange information and experiences on issues of common interest, issues that have been complemented with the field of sports since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. The forum for this cooperation is the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council. It mainly approves support programmes, but in certain areas like the regulation and support of audiovisual media or the mutual recognition of diplomas it also is involved in legislation. 

Members of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council are the Ministers responsible for the relevant portfolios, who usually meet twice during the first half of the year and once during the second half. The Council has a wide range of issues on its agenda, the topic of cooperation between European universities can be mentioned, just as the problems of disadvantaged youth, adult learning and vocational training or the support of the European film industry. On issues where the EU has a legislative authority, the Council usually approves legislation by qualified majority in an ordinary legislative procedure together with the European Parliament.

Europe is experiencing a period of change, the Union is becoming more and more a high-tech based, low carbon emission economy, which places innovation, creativity and mobility into the forefront of its activities. The importance of education, training, research and culture have increased, with more and more attention being given to the resource that youth constitute for the EU. Beside contributing to the exchange of information and best practices and on the basis of this approving incentive measures for the Member States, the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council also uses EU funds to finance programs to support lifelong learning, the mobility of those working in the cultural sector, the international dissemination of cultural-artistic products and works, as well as the inter-cultural dialogue and the European audiovisual sector. Well known education, training, cultural, research and youth programs as Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Grundtvig, Culture and Media programs, the Marie Curie-action all form an integral part of this strategy.

PRIORITIES OF THE HUNGARIAN PRESIDENCY

Education and training are key factors for realising and improving employability, competitiveness, innovation, cultural development and social inclusion; as well as the achievement of greater economic welfare through these. This approach is reflected in the Europe 2020 strategy also. The Hungarian Presidency attaches particular significance to the assessment of national action plans aimed at implementing this strategy.

Mobility in education, early childhood education and vocational training

In the field of education, the Hungarian Presidency is to pay special attention to the achievement of the objective defined in the Europe 2020 strategy, which aims to prevent early school leaving and education attrition. It wishes to contribute to the development of a comprehensive European policy framework, the identification of best practices. Hungary wishes to promote incentives for trans-border mobility in education and to improve the quality of mobility related services, while it also wishes to direct the attention to the relationship between education, training and the labour market.

In order to improve the level of early childhood education and care, it wishes to improve later education and employment. In order to decrease the number of early school leavers and to improve the integration of disadvantaged children, the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council is planning to launch policy cooperation and to develop the framework of cooperation. In the field of higher education, the Hungarian Presidency wishes to contribute to the cooperation on the modernization of higher education, through a study of the diversification and quality of higher education from the perspective of higher education management.

The Hungarian Presidency will review the results of the Action Plan on Adult Learning and will take forward the work started by the Belgian Presidency in the field of vocational training, with special regard to the development of the strategic framework for vocational training until 2020 and the definition of priorities (for example work based vocational training, improving the attractiveness of vocational training and employment issues).

Active citizenship

Building on the achievements of the Spanish and the Belgian Presidencies, the Hungarian Presidency will pursue and assess the Member States’ consultations of the social participation of youth in order to raise awareness about active citizenship. In conjunction with the theme of 2011 - The European Year of Volunteering, Hungary also wishes to study how youth volunteering can contribute to the democratic development of local communities.    

The Hungarian Presidency wishes to continue the legislative work on the European Heritage Label that wishes to highlight the common European cultural heritage and values, which at the same time show diversity in each Member State and will monitor the implementation of the Council’s 2011-2014 Work Plan for Culture. The European Commission initiated a debate in the autumn of 2010 on the future of the Culture Program after 2013, to which the Hungarian Presidency also wishes to contribute its share.    

Cultural and creative industries

With respect to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy the objective of the Hungarian Presidency will be to discover the areas and the instruments, where culture could contribute to meeting European economic and growth targets. In this sense, the role played by cultural and creative industries in social development and the strengthening of cohesion is especially important, just as the synergy effect of linking knowledge-based society, innovation and culture. Hungary wishes to promote a study of factors that impede the mobility of artists and other cultural experts and the establishment of an information system that supports their mobility.

Cultural diversity

During the term of the Presidency, Hungary will put in the forefront, tasks of the Union that are aimed at preserving cultural diversity, which can be best achieved through the support of programs that promote respect for linguistic diversity, the free usage of language and which strengthen the relationship between sports and cultural diversity. The Hungarian initiative aims to use exploit all options set forth in the Treaties and in competences to investigate the possibility of providing tangible budgetary support to civil initiatives.

Protection of minors, the audiovisual and online industry

The protection of minors is a fundamental element of EU media regulations. The Hungarian Presidency will pay special attention to the changes that have taken place in the technical and the legislative environment and will define further legislative requirements on the basis of the results of technical consultations on the issue.

The initiatives of the EU on creative online content provide a solid foundation for further measures aimed at strengthening the European audiovisual and online industry. The Hungarian Presidency will place in the focus the development of audiovisual content industry and its positive impact on the entire economy. It will deal with issues related to the protection of intellectual rights, the alternative modes of disseminating audiovisual works (digital distribution, electronic cinema) and also with the issues of digital cultural and creative content.

Sports cooperation

Sports, which was included among the support and complementing policies since 1^st December 2009 will have a priority place on the agenda of the Hungarian Presidency. Hungary wishes to discuss at several fora the communication of the European Commission on sports that is to be published and also the action areas of future EU sports policy, thereby contributing to the common deliberation on the direction and the objectives of sports cooperation. The Hungarian Presidency will keep on the agenda the work started by the Belgian Presidency on the international representation of Member States’ interests in the anti-doping struggle.