Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-02-25-Speech-3-135"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20040225.10.3-135"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Mr President, I have three minutes to make a speech about the importance of culture for our children and the future of the education systems across the European Union. As a famous French historian might have commented
: this is not a subject which should be treated lightly. Commissioner Reding is absolutely right that our own national governments should be encouraged to support the initiative of the rapporteur, supported by the Commission, that when it comes to programmes and projects affecting education, they might consider a certain generosity of spirit and indeed financial generosity towards the programmes that we are commonly working to support.
At the base of this misunderstanding is the notion that culture is purely national. Of course a part of culture is national, but as the rapporteur points out, we have many identities; we have a local and a regional identity and indeed a European identity. It is not a historical accident that the rapporteur’s country and my country, England, share the same patron saint – St George. Unhappily perhaps, this may have something to do with the fact that England and Portugal, allies of old, founded this union in battle – a crusade – in the Iberian Peninsula. Our children must of course learn about conflict and disagreement and their disastrous consequences, but they should also learn about what brings people together: commerce and trade, for example. Between England and Portugal there is the cork trade and indeed the port wine trade.
What role do our schools have in sharing the upbringing of the young? As Commissioner Reding has pointed out, it is not only schools – and I speak as a former teacher of young children. I was always conscious, however, that the lasting impressions had been made way before school by families; by parents and grandparents.
A minister of propaganda in a European dictatorship said, 'When I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver'. That sounds as if it is meant to be a flippant comment, but we know what tragic consequences dictatorship brought to human lives in so many European countries.
I would hope that the Council of Ministers, when it next discusses these matters to which the Commission has drawn our attention, will have sufficient generosity of spirit to say that it will increase the education and culture budget – not simply in terms of finance, but in also terms of expertise, interest and political support – and that we will learn about our neighbours and about our common culture and heritage.
Egypt, Crete, Greece, Rome and so on are of course part of England's experience, as indeed that of Portugal, Germany and everywhere else. But unless our children are given a sound basis of knowledge and understanding, then perhaps later on in life it will become harder for them to gain a successful career and sufficient financial resources. Sound knowledge, however, may bring them a little wisdom in times of difficulty. I hope that wisdom may be shared in the Council of Ministers."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata |
"'cauchemar'"1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples