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[Luxembourg 2005 Presidency of the Council of the European Union]
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Press Release
Symposium on "The changing European classroom - the potential of plurilingual education" on 10 and 11 March 2005

Date of release : 11-03-2005

Policy area : Education, Youth and Culture Education, Youth and Culture


Mady Delvaux-Stehres, Minister for National Education and Professional Training and President of the "Education" Council of the European Union, and Jan Figel, European Commissioner responsible for Education, Training, Culture and Plurilingualism, launched the symposium on "The changing European classroom - the potential of plurilingual education" on 10 and 11 March 2005. Faithful to the topic chosen by the Luxembourg Presidency for the education sector ("Let’s learn more languages to speak the same language"), the symposium brought together participants from over 32 countries to exchange views on plurilingualism and teaching methods for language apprenticeships within a Europe in full expansion.

In her opening speech, Mady Delvaux-Stehres emphasised the importance of plurilingualism for Europe in general, and for Luxembourg in particular. On the basis of the report that between 50% and 90% of the languages spoken today are likely to disappear during the 21st century, she reaffirmed that Europe must safeguard its heritage and the diversity of the linguistic landscape that sets it apart. Stating that language apprenticeships and linguistic diversity constitute one of the priorities of the European agenda, the Minister stressed that the ability to speak several languages enables people to communicate beyond borders, and also to learn to recognise differences and therefore to propagate civil values such as tolerance and mutual respect. Following the example of Luxembourg where, with the number of foreign residents approaching 40%, social cohesion can be guaranteed only if schools manage to safeguard linguistic heritage, such as Luxembourgers and non-Luxembourgers and multilingualism and multiculturalism, which must be valued throughout Europe.

In his speech, Jan Figel underlined that within the context of EU enlargement, where national and European identities stand side by side, it was imperative to promote linguistic diversity, whilst at the same time strengthening unity. The Commissioner said that Luxembourg should be regarded as a model of plurilingualism which would serve as an example to all other European countries.

Describing plurilingualism as the means of integration par excellence ("True integration can only be multilingual"), he also underlined the importance of languages for economic development, since they improve employability and mobility of employees and foster international trade. Jan Figel said that the time when Europe’s linguistic diversity was considered an obstacle rather than an opportunity was fortunately over. The European Commission has shown its firm intention to promote language apprenticeships by appointing, for the first time in 2004, a commissioner responsible for plurilingualism.

The Commissioner concluded by pinpointing the main actions undertaken by the European Commission to promote languages, the most notable of which will be the adoption of a Commission communication on plurilingualism at the end of 2005, the implementation of the action plan to promote language apprenticeships and linguistic diversity within the EU from 2004 to 2006, the integration of the promotion of plurilingualism into the apprenticeship programme throughout life (lifelong learning) which will begin in 2007 and the European language skills indicators.



This page was last modified on : 11-03-2005

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