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Monday, February 21, 2011

The agenda of the Committee of Regions: protection of minority languages and the Union for innovation

On February 21st, 2011, the next meeting of the Committee of the Regions' EDUC Commission will meet to discuss the protection of minority languages of the Union and a bottom-up approach to innovation.Two weeks ago European leaders endorsed ambitious plans to turn the EU into an Innovation Union. Meeting in Brussels on February 21st, mayors and regional representatives will scrutinise these proposals. Councillor Roger Knox (UK/EA) from East Lothian in Scotland will lead the discussions in order to prepare a first draft opinion for April. Cllr Knox cautions against using the proposed "smart specialisation" as a way of prioritising already leading regions or cities while leaving other areas under-supported or not supported at all. In addition, the Scottish rapporteur believes that the "Innovation Union" flagship initiative gives scope to improve how tasks and responsibilities are shared between support for excellence in basic and applied research at European level on the one hand, and support for innovation at a decentralised level on the other, in a bid to develop the necessary range.

The protection and development of minority languages in Europe has always been a key issue for the Committee of the Regions. How the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty strengthened this approach is the subject of an own-initative opinion currently under preparation in the EDUC Commission. The opinion is drawn up by Luciano Caveri (IT/ALDE), regional councillor of the Valle d'Aosta region in the Italian Alps, where Italian and French are the official languages. In his view, minority or regional languages should become an integral part of Union policies and programmes. This is particularly true for policies regarding the audiovisual sector, education, the cultural sector and language learning, as well as territorial cooperation, regional development, the tourism sector and youth exchanges. On Monday, he will present first proposals to CoR members from other EU member states.

The Committee of the Regions' Commission for Education, Youth, Culture and Research (EDUC) gathers 96 regional and local politicians from the 27 EU member states. Since February 2010 it is chaired by Alin Adrian Nica (RO/ALDE), Mayor of Dudeştii Noi. The next meeting of the EDUC Commission will take place on 14 April 2011 in Brussels

Source  Press room - Committee of the Regions

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