1. In the context of the draft recommendation on the
future of the European Centre for Global Interdependence and Solidarity
(“North-South Centre”) presented by the Committee on Economic Affairs
and Development), the opinion of the Committee on Culture, Science
and Education has been sought. This opinion is based on a contribution
from the North-South Centre, which I wish to thank.
2. My colleague and compatriot António Braga had already presented
the committee’s opinion in 2003 on the report of the Committee on
Economic Affairs and Development on the Council of Europe’s North-South Centre
and its contribution to development co-operation in the 21st century.
3. On the eve of its 20th anniversary celebrations, the North-South
Centre attaches great importance to the draft recommendation, which
proposes the adoption by the Committee of Ministers of a new statutory resolution.
This resolution would enable the relevance of the Centre to be reaffirmed
and its structures and mandate to be adapted to a political situation
and an international environment which have changed a great deal
since the date of its foundation.
4. Drawing on its past achievements and its expertise and aware
of the difficulties and challenges encountered, the Centre – through
its statutory bodies – adopted a new strategy of consolidation and development
in 2008. This strategy is already bearing fruit: the definition
of political and strategic priorities in the light of the international
context, greater recognition within the Council of Europe and at
international level of its expertise in North-South dialogue, stronger
co-operation with key international partners (including the European
Union) and the accession of four member states (one of them non-European)
have been achieved over a short period of time. This new strategy,
still being implemented, draws greatly on co-operation with the “parent
organisation”, and particularly its Parliamentary Assembly.
5. In this context, the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
considers that its co-operation with the North-South Centre is of
particular importance because of the subjects and priorities that
they have in common. The latest and most productive example of this
co-operation was the joint holding of the Conference on Education
and Intercultural Dialogue – Educating for Diversity and Global
Citizenship (Praia, Cape Verde, October 2008).
6. It is proposed hereunder: i. to list instances of co-operation
between the North-South Centre and the committee; ii. to put forward
some ideas for future co-operation; iii. to highlight, in order
to support and/or supplement them, certain recommendations made
in the report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development
on the future of the North-South Centre.
1. List of instances of co-operation between the
North-South Centre and the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
7. Co-operation between the North-South Centre and the
Committee on Culture, Science and Education gives rise to:
– references to the North-South Centre in the most recent
documents adopted by the committee
8. Our committee has, on several occasions, referred
to the work and relevance of the Centre in the documents it has
adopted, particularly in the youth field. It has also called for
the accession to the North-South Centre of the countries of the
south Mediterranean,
a call reiterated in
Resolution 1598 (2008) on strengthening
co-operation with the Maghreb countries (Political Affairs Committee).
These calls helped to bring about the accession of the Kingdom of
Morocco to the North-South Centre in July 2009;
– participation by committee members in the activities
organised by the North-South Centre
9. Our committee has taken part in certain of the Centre’s
activities connected with the dialogue with the countries of the
south Mediterranean
and education.
It has also taken part in meetings of
the Lisbon Forum;
– participation by the North-South Centre in activities
of the committee
10. The Centre has actively co-operated in some of our
meetings and colloquies connected with the Middle East peace process,
intercultural dialogue
and
relations between the Council of Europe and the countries of the
south Mediterranean;
– the organisation of joint activities
11. The Conference on Education and Intercultural Dialogue
– Educating for Diversity and Global Citizenship (Praia, Cape Verde,
October 2008) was organised by our committee and the North-South
Centre, in co-operation with the National Assembly of Cape Verde,
with the support of the Cape Verde Government and under the auspices
of the Portuguese Presidency of the Community of Portuguese Language
Countries. The aim of this meeting was to facilitate dialogue in
the sense of a sharing of viewpoints and good practices between
the parliamentarians and experts of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa
on priority questions connected with education and intercultural
dialogue.
2. Ideas for future co-operation between the North-South
Centre and the Committee on Culture, Science and Education
12. On the basis of the co-operation already established
with our committee and in the context of the new strategy adopted
by the North-South Centre’s statutory bodies, the Centre considers
that the following subjects seem to present particular interest
for future co-operation with the Parliamentary Assembly, and with
our committee in particular:
– education and youth
13. The general objective of the North-South Centre’s
Education and Youth programme is to increase awareness among Europeans
of interdependence and solidarity issues through education and youth
activities and to promote relations and human contact between Europe,
the south shore of the Mediterranean and Africa;
– education
14. More specifically, the objective in terms of education
for world citizenship (EWC) is to support the development and strengthening
of EWC strategies and capacities by targeting the different EWC
institutions and players in the formal and non-formal sector;
15. The North-South Centre is working on the following projects:
a. adoption by the Committee
of Ministers of a recommendation to member states of the Council
of Europe on education for world citizenship: this
process, started in March 2008 under the auspices of the Council
of Europe Steering Committee for Education (CDED), should come to
fruition in the spring of 2010;
Our
committee is participating in the preparation of the draft recommendation.
This preparation could be stepped up, and support for the draft
confirmed;
b. implementation of
the 2009-2011 programme for promoting global development education
in the new European Union member states (in the framework of the
Joint Management Agreement signed with the European Commission)
through national and regional seminars and the publication of EWC
profiles for individual countries;
Some
members of our committee could participate in the national and regional
seminars, as well as in the pan-European seminar which is due to
close the programme in 2011;
c. the DG IV and North-South
Centre joint project on A History of Interactions within the Mediterranean
and between the Mediterranean and Other Cultures and Regions of
the World, with the objective of developing, with historians and
experts from Europe and the south shore of the Mediterranean, an
action plan on history teaching;
Our
committee could take part in the project;
– youth
16. In the youth sphere, the objective is to train, and
increase the capacities of, young people and youth organisations
and to facilitate political action centred on youth in development
policies, by increasing the role of young people as vital players
in North-South interdependence. This activity takes place particularly
in the framework of follow-up to the Africa-Europe Youth Summit
held in Lisbon in December 2007 at the initiative of the North-South
Centre;
17. The following activities, carried out in the context of the
Joint Management Agreement signed with the European Commission and
the Youth Partnership between the European Commission and the Council
of Europe, are considered to be priorities:
a. consolidation of
the African University for Youth and Development, held for the first
time in 2009. The annual university session brings together approximately
100 leaders of youth organisations from Africa and Europe, who work
together to develop training activities and political participation
by young people in the context of Euro-African co-operation;
b. organisation of the
global University on Youth and Development, a unique forum for dialogue
bringing together almost 300 representatives of youth organisations
and movements from across the world to discuss, provide and receive
training, and define political activities on the major issues on
the global agenda;
Our committee
could take part in these two activities;
– intercultural dialogue
18. The objectives and priorities of the North-South
Centre’s intercultural dialogue programme are to contribute, through
dialogue, to the development of knowledge, mutual understanding
and links between the different players of societies in Europe and
on the south shore of the Mediterranean. The Centre draws on the concept
of intercultural dialogue advocated by the White Paper and the political
commitments made by the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean (July
2008). The Centre also draws on the partnership developed with some
key players in intercultural dialogue, such as the Alliance of Civilizations
and the Anna Lindh Foundation;
19. The following subjects are central to the Centre’s intercultural
dialogue programme:
a. setting up of a Euro-Mediterranean
dialogue platform on migration, comprising representatives of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Mediterranean and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities
of the Council of Europe, and co-ordinated by the North-South Centre;
The North-South Centre co-operates
with the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees
and Population;
b. co-operation with
the Parliamentary Assembly on the promotion of the Israeli-Palestinian
dialogue, particularly in the form of an inter-parliamentary forum
involving the Parliamentary Assembly, the Knesset and the Palestinian
Legislative Council;
The North-South
Centre co-operates with the Parliamentary Assembly’s Political Affairs
Committee;
c. awareness-raising
seminars in the Maghreb countries on the subject of the Council
of Europe and its North-South Centre, in order to provide information
about the Organisation’s work, encourage greater participation by
Maghreb countries in the Centre’s activities and explore the scope
for greater co-operation between these countries and the Council
of Europe;
The Parliamentary Assembly
and/or its relevant committees could participate in these seminars;
d. conferences on women
as agents of change in Mediterranean societies, bringing together
policy makers and participants from all Euro-Mediterranean countries;
The North-South Centre co-operates
with the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Equal Opportunities
for Women and Men;
e. inter-parliamentary
co-operation between Africa and Europe: follow-up to the Conference
on Education and Intercultural Dialogue – Educating for Diversity
and Global Citizenship (Cape Verde, 2008);
Our committee could co-operate in this activity;
f. Euro-Mediterranean
University (EMUNI) set up at the initiative of the Slovenian Government
and under the auspices of the European Union: the Centre is a founder
member and is endeavouring to create synergies between EMUNI’s programmes
and the work of the Council of Europe;
Our committee could co-operate in this activity.
3. Highlighting of certain recommendations made in
the report on the future of the North-South Centre
– change in the current status of the North-South Centre
20. The new strategy introduced by the North-South Centre
and the results achieved further strengthen the Centre’s role as
a special instrument of the Council of Europe in its relations with
neighbouring countries and other continents;
21. The proposal to change the Centre’s status from that of an
enlarged partial agreement of the Council of Europe to that of an
enlarged agreement is vital in this respect: this change would correspond
to the North-South Centre’s new priorities and developments, in
line with the Council of Europe’s strategic and political priorities,
and would enable the Centre to be given financial resources commensurate
with these priorities. This change would also enable states which
are not members of the Council of Europe to continue to join the
Centre;
– updating of the North-South Centre’s role
22. It would be an important step to bring the Centre’s
role into line with its current remit, as referred to at the Warsaw
Summit and strengthened by its new strategy. In this respect, it
is proposed that the following paragraph be added to its role: “provide
a framework for dialogue and co-operation between the Council of Europe
and its neighbouring non-European countries and regions, particularly
through education, youth co-operation and intercultural dialogue”;
– co-operation with the European Union
23. The involvement of the European Union in the operation
and activities of the North-South Centre, on the basis of the fact
that both the European Commission and European Parliament have seats
on its Executive Council, is vital. It should, in so far as is possible,
be further strengthened, particularly through the inclusion of the
Committee of the Regions of the European Union among the stakeholders.
The 20th anniversary should also be the occasion for raising the
question of the accession of the European Union as such to the North-South Centre,
as provided for when the Centre was founded but not yet realised.
_________
Reporting committee:
Committee on Economic Affairs and Development (Doc. 12069)
Committee for opinion:
Committee on Culture, Science and Education
Reference to committee:
Reference 3451 of 23 June 2008
Opinion approved by
the committee on 29 September 2009
Secretariat of the committee:
Mr Ary, Mr Dossow and Mr Fuchs
