Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-12-Speech-3-196"
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"en.20051012.17.3-196"2
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".
Mr President, I would like to express my thanks for the many interesting contributions and ideas brought out in the discussion. Whether we refer to education as a cornerstone, or a central or key theme, it is obvious that without improved, higher-quality and more accessible education and training it will be impossible to develop suitable economic and social responses to the Lisbon Strategy or to the current problems of Europe or the Member States of the Union. I am convinced that education should be a central priority both here and – of course
particularly in the policies of the Member States.
Let me respond directly to just one comment concerning mobility and the 2006 European mobility year. In my opinion, the best way to contribute to increasing mobility would be to lift the moratorium on the movement of workers imposed on new Member States by many older members; the date of 1 May 2006, marking the first two-year initial period, would be the right time to do it.
To conclude, lifelong education is neither a luxury nor a hobby; it is a necessity if people are to develop their abilities, digital literacy, language and other skills. The same goes for teachers, who transmit these abilities to their pupils. Lifelong learning should be applied as a principle, a policy, a strategy and a programme. On the one hand, we are concerned about insufficient progress towards achieving the results that we have agreed on with the Member States; on the other hand, there are encouraging signs that they can be attained. The Lisbon process, PISA studies and benchmarking also show good results, although on average they are not satisfactory. I want to state, however, that we cannot allow ourselves to drift towards ‘averageness’; we should rather strive for excellence, and look to the best examples. It is clear that European countries can be the best in the world in areas such as science, skills or literacy, and in many of the important preconditions for competitiveness.
The aim, and also the solution, is to invest more in education, and to target investments more effectively. More effective investment is about reforms and adjustments – ones that are essential, reasonable and timely. Investing more is about the real need to strengthen the budgets of individual countries (some are setting a very good example), as well as the budget of the Union. I would like to thank you for these kinds of approach and for your support over the financial issues. I look forward to developing these types of policy and cooperation for the benefit of education in Europe."@en1
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