Resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council

of 14 December 2000

concerning an action plan for mobility

(2000/C 371/03)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL;

CONVINCED that the construction of a genuine European area of knowledge is a priority for the European Community and that it is through education that Europeans will acquire the shared cultural references that are the basis of European citizenship and of a political Europe.

SURE that this belief is based on mutual discovery of our diversity and complementarity and involves increased personal contacts and exchange of knowledge and experience.

CONVINCED, that it is therefore essential to target intelligible action, shared by all of the Member States, at young people, schoolchildren, students, researchers, all those being educated and their teachers; that it is by building the Europe of intelligence that we will bring about a true feeling of being part of Europe.

AWARE that the Europe of knowledge is also an economic necessity; that in an internationalised economy increasingly founded on knowledge, openness to foreign cultures and the ability to educate oneself and work in a multilingual environment are essential to the competitiveness of the European economy.

CONVINCED that increasing the mobility of young people, schoolchildren, students, researchers, all those being educated and their teachers in Europe is thus a major political goal and that it requires simultaneous commitment and effort by the European Community and the Member States.

NOTE that to attain this goal Europe already has a wealth of resources: the Community's Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci and Youth programmes represent appreciable progress and play an essential role which will increase with the second generation of programmes.

CONVINCED that this progress must be taken further; that even if the number of people choosing mobility is on the increase, it is still small; that, for example, among students it concerns only a small percentage; that substantial obstacles remain: unequal access to information, obstacles of a financial nature, administrative difficulties as regards tax and social benefits, complex residence procedures, disadvantages in terms of status and career.

NOTE that the Extraordinary European Council in Lisbon of 23 and 24 March 2000 recognised the urgency of removing obstacles and promoting mobility and that, in its conclusions, it invited the Council and Commission to define "by the end of 2000, the means for fostering the mobility of students, teachers and training and research staff both through making the best use of existing Community programmes, by removing obstacles and through greater transparency in the recognition of qualifications and periods of study and training" (paragraph 26).

UNDERTAKE, to meet the great expectations of their fellow citizens, that with the support of the Commission, each in its field, and in full compliance with the principle of subsidiarity it will take the steps necessary to remove obstacles to mobility and to promote it.

CONSIDER that this Resolution, far from prejudging the substantial amount of work already done by the Commission and the Council towards providing a suitable legal framework for promoting mobility and in particular the proposal for a Recommendation on mobility which it is hoped will be adopted soon aims, on the contrary, to facilitate the implementation of Community initiatives in this area by suggesting possible specific initiatives. These initiatives will be implemented in close cooperation with all the participants and institutions concerned, in particular universities, whose participation is a key to success.

WELCOME the mobility action plan set out in the Annex which was submitted to the Ministers for Education at the Sorbonne on 30 September 2000. That plan has three major objectives:

- to define and democratise mobility in Europe;

- to promote appropriate forms of funding;

- to increase mobility and improve the conditions for it.

The measures mentioned in the Action Plan are conceived as a "toolbox" of 42 measures divided into four main chapters which, in their individual scope and combination, are designed to identify and deal with the obstacles encountered by those who, no matter where, seek to implement a mobility measure.

The first chapter concerns actions to promote mobility through measures to train people who help to implement mobility, to develop multilingual skills and to access useful information.

The second chapter covers the funding of mobility and seeks to identify a series of measures that will mobilise all possible financial resources.

The third chapter aims to increase and improve mobility by multiplying the forms that it may take and by improving reception facilities and the organisation of timetables.

Lastly, the fourth chapter describes measures to make the most of periods of mobility and gain recognition of the experience acquired.

CONVINCED that if all Member States, with the assistance of the Commission, make use on a voluntary basis of those actions which they consider will best enable the obstacles encountered by those requesting mobility in their countries to be overcome, all agree from the outset that the following measures in the action plan are of particular importance:

- developing multilingualism,

- establishment of a portal giving access to the different European sources of information on mobility,

- recognition of periods of mobility in diploma courses,

- training of the teachers and administrative staff involved to become true mobility organisers able to provide advice and guidance and draft mobility projects,

- definition and adoption of a quality charter on reception facilities for foreign nationals on training courses,

- drawing up of an inventory of existing mobility circuits and good practices, exchanges of students, trainees and trainers,

- creating linkage between mobility funding from the Union, the Member States and local authorities, the public sector and the private sector.

PROPOSE that, as part of rolling programming instituted by the Council in its Resolution of 17 December 1999(1) and for the sake of regular assessment of progress in achieving the targets set, the Council, in collaboration with the other European institutions concerned, regularly take stock of the situation, in principle every two years.

RECALL that the plan also identifies measures of broader scope coming under larger-scale coordination within each Member State and between the Commission and the Member States' administrations.

In accordance with the conclusions of the Extraordinary European Council in Lisbon, this Resolution is submitted to the European Council in Nice.

(1) Council Resolution of 17 December 1999 on "Into the new millenium": developing new working procedures for European cooperation in the field of education and training (OJ C 8, 12.1.2000, p. 6).

ANNEX

MOBILITY ACTION PLAN

Objectives and measures proposed

A. GENERAL OBJECTIVE

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B. PARTICULAR OBJECTIVES

I. PROMOTING MOBILITY IN EUROPE

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II. PROMOTING THE FINANCING OF MOBILITY

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III. INCREASING AND IMPROVING MOBILITY

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IV. GAINING MORE FROM PERIODS OF MOBILITY

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