‘EU moet concreet willen zijn bij kennis’

Nieuws | de redactie

1 april 2010 | De Europese studenten en jongerenorganisaties eisen dat de concrete 'targets' voor het onderwijsbeleid in de nieuwe EU2020 strategie worden hersteld. "Without concrete targets in these fields, a sustainable growth and jobs strategy is of little use to make Europe smarter and more inclusive." Daar kunnen Barroso en Merkel het mee doen.

De EU-leiders hebben de concrete doelstellingen voor 2020 wat weggemoffeld en gaan er van uit, dat bij huntop in juni deze alsnog worden ingevuld. Maar daarin geloven maarweinigen, die de politieke realiteiten in Brussel kennen. Zo ook devoorzitters van de studentenclubs: “We are worried to see importantbenchmarks for more quality education and the fight against povertyleft out,” says Tine Radinja, President of the European YouthForum. “Without concrete targets in these fields, a sustainablegrowth and jobs strategy is of little use to make Europe smarterand more inclusive.”

The European Commission initially proposed that ’the share of earlyschool leavers should be under 10% and at least 40% of the youngergeneration should have a tertiary degree’. But before and duringthe EU Council of Ministers’ meeting on March 25 and 26, news cameout that several countries are opposing benchmarks oneducation and poverty. “We are demanding more Europe and moreEuropean consensus on ambitious goals. Otherwise, we will end up byhaving almost no reference to education and poverty targets in thisStrategy,” added Mr Radinja.

The European Youth Forum and several of its members, namely theEuropean Students’ Union (ESU), the Organising Bureau of EuropeanSchool Student Unions (OBESSU), European Students’ Forum(AEGEE-Europe) and Erasmus Student Network (ESN), are worried aboutthe lack of will of EU leaders to set common targets in the fieldof education and poverty. 

“The Lisbon Strategy clearly failed at making Europe the mostdynamic knowledge-based economy by 2010. If the follow-up strategyhas nothing more than good wishes for better education and moresocial cohesion, Europe will not be much further in 2020 than wewere when starting the Lisbon Strategy over 10 years ago.”