Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-09-05-Speech-4-038"
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"en.20020905.2.4-038"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, if you think that education is too expensive, ‘try ignorance!’ as Abraham Lincoln said, and this is why I welcome the report by Mrs Van Brempt and the truth and relevance of the ideas she has just put forward.
As she has illustrated so well, in our societies, equal opportunities, personal development and the ability to take charge throughout one’s life are dependent upon better access to education and training.
This report has the merit of reminding us of the essential issues in lifelong learning. It gives a precise definition of the vulnerable social groups that must have access to this process, namely the illiterate, immigrants, the handicapped, the unemployed and women finishing maternity leave.
I wish now to pay tribute to the fine work done by the Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities. Furthermore, this report reflects our societies, which are undergoing enormous changes and in which everyone can change career several times in their lifetime. If this report is rapidly implemented, it will be an opportunity for all men and women who think that progress in society is definitively blocked for them.
Certain shortcomings must, nevertheless, be mentioned. Mrs Karamanou has highlighted the disparities between men and women in access to training, but there are genuine shortcomings where the illiterate, immigrants, the handicapped and the long-term unemployed are concerned. The most crucial issue for me, ladies and gentlemen, is funding, because, although the Commission has currently earmarked more than EUR 500 million and will set aside an equivalent sum in 2006, and although the European Investment Bank intends to increase the budget earmarked for this area, the Member States, on the other hand, seem not to want to make any great effort on this matter.
Furthermore, it would be inappropriate, on such an important matter, to indulge in penny-pinching or, for example, to restructure already existing programmes, such as Leonardo and Socrates.
Finally Commissioner, I am categorically opposed, as I hope you are, to the idea that the price for even a tiny part of this education should be met by those who are precisely in greatest need of it. Let us bear in mind the phrase by Victor Hugo: 'Every school that is opened closes one more prison'.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us bear in mind that it is the most vulnerable people who must be concerned by lifelong learning. This gives enormous hope to them all, men and women, and perhaps a last chance too."@en1
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