RESOLUTION of the Council and of the Ministers responsible for cultural affairs, meeting within the Council, of 18 December 1984 on greater recourse to the European Social Fund in respect of cultural workers (85/C 2/02)

THE COUNCIL AND THE MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR CULTURAL AFFAIRS, MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL,

Having regard to the Treaties establishing the European Communities,

taking account of Community action in the field of training and employment policy,

referring to the Commission communication on stronger Community action in the cultural sector, forwarded to the Council on 12 October 1982, and to the European Parliament resolution of 18 November 1983,

in pursuance of the discussion at their meeting on 22 June 1984 in Luxembourg concerning the submission of projects involving cultural workers under the European Social Fund,

draw attention to the pressing need for measures to reduce unemployment and underemployment of cultural workers;

reaffirm the vital importance of vocational training and retraining opportunities as a basic element in improving employment prospects and in particular aiding the realization of human potential in the cultural sector of the economy;

note, in particular, the importance of taking measures to help young people to develop their occupational skills and also to improve their social motivation in this sector;

draw attention to the need for improved guidance and counselling regarding the whole range of career opportunities in the cultural sector, especially those careers which combine both technical and cultural skills;

in this context recognize the potential uses of new technology in the cultural sector and the need for a wider familiarity with new techniques;

note that the cultural sector is particularly susceptible to action by individual initiative and is therefore an appropriate area for the promotion of employment opportunities for the self-employed, as well as for small enterprises and cooperatives, especially those which meet specific local or regional cultural needs;

draw attention to the need for improved training and employment opportunities for women;

welcome the strengthening of Community vocational training and employment activities, and in particular the adoption by the Council in October 1983 of new rules under the European Social Fund providing for the funding of innovatory projects linked to Community action programmes, particularly those related to the aspects mentioned above;

declare their willingness to play their part as fully as possible in the implementation of these action programmes in the cultural sector, in cooperation with the other authorities concerned, at regional, national and Community level;

accordingly draw Member States' attention to the possibility of preparing and submitting projects for European Social Fund aid, and invite the Commission to give careful consideration, within the framework of the existing Regulations of the Social Fund, to proposals for the vocational training and the employment of artists and cultural workers in the knowledge that art and culture constitute an important source of income and employment as well as enriching the artistic, cultural and social life of communities.