Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-27-Speech-4-038"
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the question of multilingualism, especially in an enlarged Europe, is more important now than it has ever been. It is vitally important for European citizens to possess the necessary knowledge and skills that allow effective communication and facilitate mutual understanding. Simply learning a 'lingua franca' is insufficient and fails to reflect Europe's true identity.
I cannot close without mentioning the living example of multilingualism and its importance which we find in this House. I refer to the interpreters, thanks to whom the European Parliament is the only institution working in 20 languages, bringing our work closer to the citizens and making our communication more effective and for that I thank them.
The proposal sent to us by the Commission follows on from the decision by the European Council in Barcelona in March 2002, at which the Heads of State or Government called for improvements to the learning of basic skills with the teaching, from a very early age, of at least two languages. They also called for a common linguistic proficiency indicator, in other words, a language test to measure objectively the proficiency of citizens in foreign languages. Three years later, the Commission is proposing to create a European Indicator of Language Competence, common to all the Member States and with a high level of accuracy and reliability. The purpose of the indicator is to measure the proficiency of European citizens in foreign languages in four linguistic skills: reading, comprehension, speaking and writing. The indicator will record linguistic proficiency at each of the six levels on the scale of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages of the Council of Europe. This Common European Framework of Reference is widely accepted and is already used in many of the Member States.
I agree with the Commission that, at an initial phase, linguistic proficiency should be tested in the five most widely taught languages in the European Union. The addition of Polish as the sixth language, at the initial phase, is something that will be determined by the budget, if of course it is feasible. A Eurobarometer poll published this week shows that English with 38%, French with 14%, German also with 14%, Spanish with 6% and Italian with 3% are the five most popular languages in the European Union which European citizens choose to learn.
Nonetheless, I stress in the report that it is important at the next stage to extend this test to a larger number of European Union languages. I should like to point out here that non-Community languages, minority languages and regional dialects do not concern the indicator in question. However, they may be included within the framework of the strategy on multilingualism on which the European Parliament is preparing a report and with which they are more in keeping from the point of view of content. That is why I do not agree with Amendments 1 and 2, given that they do not refer to this specific report, do not improve the cohesion of the test and do not agree with the objectives of the indicator of linguistic competence. The indicator of linguistic competence is no more than a technical instrument that will be financed through an existing programme, namely the lifelong learning programme, the main purpose of which is to substantially strengthen the mobility of citizens, workers or students in the European Union.
It is also worth noting that, according to recent statistics, while the percentage of primary school pupils being taught a foreign language is increasing, unfortunately the diversity of languages on offer is decreasing. In many countries foreign language learning tends to mean simply learning English. The indicator can also be used to extrapolate policy conclusions at European and national level.
Despite the Commission's involvement in the process, the Member States must participate actively in the implementation and development of the indicator, because they alone can provide information on various factors that affect linguistic proficiency, such as television, family environment, number of hours of teaching, experience of teachers and so forth.
Broadly speaking, the European Indicator of Language Competence is considered to be an extremely valuable instrument for obtaining reliable information on the linguistic proficiency of Europeans, in particular young people, enabling comparisons to be drawn between Member State policies on linguistic matters and facilitating the identification and exchanges of best practices, thereby giving fresh impetus to language teaching.
Mr President, Commissioner, proficiency in at least two foreign languages should form part of the basic set of skills of a typical European living, studying, working and generally circulating in the European Union. We must not forget that 2006 is the 'European Year of Workers' Mobility', in which case I feel that it offers us a very important opportunity to highlight the importance of the skills of European citizens and to offer young people an incentive to attach greater importance and attention to the learning of foreign languages.
We await the decisions of the Council on 18 May on the subject of the indicator of language competence with great interest. I am hoping for a positive response from the Council and an understanding of its obligation to take account of the parameters and an evaluation of the overall efforts of the European Parliament."@en1
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