COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 12.11.1997 
COM(97) 563 final 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

CONTENTS 
INTRODUCTION 1 
I. BUILDING A EUROPE OF KNOWLEDGE 3 
1. A limited number of objectives 4 
2. More focused actions 4 
3. The players involved 6 
4. Targeted international cooperation 7 
II. MORE INTEGRATED ARRANGEMENTS 8 
1. Legal instruments 8 
2. Complementarity and budgetary resources 8 
3. Streamlined implementation 9 
1 £v 
introduction 
The purpose of this Communication is to set out the guidelines for future 
Community action in the areas of education, training and youth for the period 
2000-2006. It paves the way for the legal instruments to be proposed in the 
spring of 1998, with the relevant decisions to follow in 1999 and entry into force 
on 1 January 2000. 
It responds to two major preoccupations: 
Knowledge policies 
• Noting that we are now entering the "knowledge society", the Commission in 
its Agenda 2000 proposes making the policies which drive that society 
(innovation, research, education and training) one of the four 
fundamental pillars of the Union's internal policies. The role of future 
Community activity in these four areas is to underpin this evolution while 
ensuring that it does not become a new source of exclusion. Economic 
competitiveness, employment and the personal fulfilment of the citizens of 
Europe is no longer mainly based on the production of physical goods, nor 
will it be in the future. Real wealth creation will henceforth be linked to the 
production and dissemination of knowledge and will depend first and 
foremost on our efforts in the field of research, education and training and on 
our capacity to promote innovation. This is why we must fashion a veritable 
'Europe of knowledge'. 
• This process is directly linked to the aim of developing lifelong learning 
which the Union has set itself and which has been incorporated into the 
Amsterdam Treaty, expressing the determination of the Union to promote 
the highest level of knowledge for its people through broad access to 
education and its permanent updating. 
Promoting employment 
• Policies to restore the employment situation - whether macroeconomic 
policies or specific labour market action ~ must be able to build on an in-
depth medium-term strategy to enhance the knowledge and skills of all 
Europe's citizens. 
0 In its conclusions, the Amsterdam European Council stressed that 
priority should be given to the development of vocational and social skills 
to facilitate workers' adaptation to labour-market developments. The 
emphasis should be on a solid broad-based education and on a set of 
skills (technological, social and organisational) which are conducive to 
innovation. In this respect it referred in particular to a range of 
transversal competencies - including the understanding of a diversity of 
cultures, competence in several languages, and the entrepreneurship 
which leads to the creation or development of businesses, especially in 
SMEs. 
b 
The guidelines for Member States' employment policies which the 
Commission has just proposed place an accent on the need for a new 
approach to integration into the world of work. New Community activities in 
the field of education, training and youth must support the achievement of 
the aims specified, viz.: 
0 reducing long-term employment and youth unemployment; 
0 reducing both the number of young people who leave compulsory 
schooling early and those who do not complete upper secondary-level 
education and training; 
0 strengthening participation rates in apprenticeship systems, by regarding 
those Member States with the best performances in this respect as 
reference points where appropriate; 
0 greater recourse to training for the unemployed; 
0 stepping up joint efforts by the business sector and the social partners to 
offer those who so wish the opportunity to acquire work experience or 
receive training. 
Community policy in the field of education, training and youth and the new 
generation of activities supporting it must enable Europe to face these major 
new challenges. 
Community action in the three fields has developed and gained momentum 
over the past 15 years. The achievements of Community cooperation to date 
and the evaluation of the existing programmes (Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci 
and Youth for Europe) and their predecessors (Erasmus, Comett, Lingua, 
Petra, Force and Eurotecnet) provide solid foundations for the next steps. 
The new Community activities must capitalise on all these achievements. It 
is clear that a response must be forthcoming for the strongly-felt demand for 
the continuation of the existing activities, but it is also clear that proposals 
must be brought forward for a new generation of activities with: 
0 a limited number of objectives, 
0 more focused actions, and 
0 streamlined management. 
In more general terms, everything must be done to build the Europe of 
knowledge which we need as we move into the twenty-first century. 
BUILDING A EUROPE OF KNOWLEDGE 
The graduai construction of an open and dynamic European 
educational area is the guiding principle on which this Communication is 
based. In a rapidly-changing world, our societies must offer all citizens 
greater opportunities for access to knowledge, irrespective of their age or 
social circumstances. This is why the notion of an educational area needs to 
be understood in the broadest possible sense, both geographically and 
temporally. It provides the framework for mobilising the effort to make a 
reality of the idea of lifelong learning, which was at the heart of the European 
Year devoted to this theme in 1996. 
Three dimensions of the European educational area should be emphasized: 
Knowledge 
0 In order to be able to take an active part in the current processes of 
change, the citizens of Europe will be able to develop their fund of 
knowledge continually, thus expanding and renewing it on a lasting 
basis. 
Citizenship 
0 This educational area will facilitate an enhancement of citizenship 
through the sharing of common values, and the development of a sense 
of belonging to a common social and cultural area. It must encourage a 
broader-based understanding of citizenship, founded on active solidarity 
and on mutual understanding of the cultural diversities that constitute 
Europe's originality and richness. 
Competence 
0 Developing employability through the acquisition of competencies 
made necessary through changes in work and its organisation. This 
means that it is necessary to promote on a lifelong basis creativity, 
flexibility, adaptability, the ability to 'learn to learn' and to solve problems. 
These are the conditions we must meet in order to overcome the now-
rapid obsolescence of skills. Activities must be developed which help 
towards anticipating needs and towards the evolution of job profiles. 
The very scale of these new challenges calls for a greater degree of 
integration between the fields of education, training and youth policy. While 
turning the idea of a European educational space into reality will utilise the 
types of activity which have already been at the heart of earlier action 
programmes and have assured their success to date, it will also have to 
make intensive use of the new information and communication technologies, 
which are still insufficiently used in Europe despite the numerous public and 
private initiatives taken to remedy this situation such as Netd@ys. 
1. A LIMITED NUMBER OF OBJECTIVES 
The new generation of actions must focus upon a limited number of objectives: 
« increasing access for the citizens of Europe to the full range of 
Europe's education resources, in support of and as a complement to 
policies pursued in the Member States; 
• innovation in these resources: pilot projects initiated by the Commission 
need to be conducted to test new approaches and instruments (such as 
second-chance schools and the accreditation of skills). The point is to 
develop new approaches based on the pooling of experiences from different 
countries. A significant proportion of resources must therefore be set aside 
for such pilot projects whose subsequent introduction on a more widespread 
basis is of course principally a matter for national authorities; 
• wide dissemination of good practice in education and better mutual 
knowledge of systems and activities. Systems for regular survey and 
analysis of education and training systems and youth policies in the Member 
States will enable political and economic decision-makers to improve the 
quality of their initiatives. 
2, MORE FOCUSED ACTIVITIES 
• For the purpose of constructing a European educational area, the 
achievements and experiences of the programmes in force up to 1999 
constitute a solid foundation. Nevertheless it is necessary to focus the 
measures, as is shown by the analysis and evaluation of the programmes. 
• Six major types of action are envisaged: 
0 Physical mobility: 
* Mobility will be available to the different target groups involved in the 
European educational area: students, school pupils, teachers, heads 
of educational establishments; apprentices/trainees, trainers and the 
social partners involved in vocational training; and the voluntary 
sector, youth groups and young volunteers; 
* Such mobility would include extension of the arrangements for mutual 
recognition to the whole of the European area in the most systematic 
manner possible. 
0 Promotion of virtual mobility: 
We need: 
* to promote universal access to new educational tools by advancing 
the creation of links between all the places where people learn 
communication/ information networks, and to do everything possible 
to ensure that they can be used at affordable cost levels; 
* to stimulate the production and dissemination of European 
multimedia and audio-visual products and services which are 
appropriate for use for the education, training and youth. The issue 
here is to have access to suitable material with a genuinely 
European educational content which reinforces the cultural identity 
of the Community; 
* to encourage the development of an appropriate education so that 
people in Europe, from the earliest age, are given the basic skii!s 
required for critical and responsible use of the information flow made 
available by the new media. 
0 Contributing to building up cooperation rtatworks at European level in 
order to permit exchange of experience and good practice. 
* These European cooperation networks must be in a position to poci 
what constitutes European excellence for a given subject or theme 
and to create a real European expertise capable of bringing to bear 
a more effective capacity for diagnosis and action. 
0 Promotion of language skills and-the understanding of different 
cuStures: these will be a supporting activity to other types of activity and 
applied transversally: 
* knowledge of languages and cultures is an essential part of the 
exercise of European citizenship; 
* the virtual European education area will be all the richer and the 
more accessible to all if it is multilingual. 
0 Pursuing innovation through pilot projects based on transnational 
partnerships to create education and training products or instruments for 
the accreditation of skills or to test new approaches and arrangements. 
Continuing improvement of Community sources of reference with regard 
to education, training and youth systems and policies in the Member States 
(key data, databases, mutual knowledge of education systems, etc.). 
All these activities are designed and managed at a transnational level. 
Particular attention will be devoted to the implementation of integrated 
projects which bring together several different kinds of activity dealing with 
the same theme. 
3. THE PARTIES INVOLVED 
• Community action is not limited to actions initiated and piloted directly by the 
Commission. The central idea underlying the development of the new 
generation of activities is based on the establishment of a framework of 
responsibilities shared between the Community, the Member States 
and the other parties involved. This is also the necessary condition for 
the Europe of knowledge to take shape. 
0 The Member States. Proposals will be submitted for arrangements to 
make the best use of innovative initiatives and experiments carried out in 
the Member States. The obligations and responsibilities of the Member 
States will be defined. The aim of Community activities will be to 
facilitate the transfer of good practice between them. 
0 Educational partners. In the interests of broad dissemination of 
innovation, it is important to strengthen consultation with parents, with 
the representatives of the educational world (universities, schools, 
training centres, voluntary associations, the third sector), and with the 
business sector, particularly SMEs. This consultation will facilitate 
coping with the changes taking place in the work of teachers and 
trainers and in the methods and tools used. 
0 The social partners. The social dialogue and the process of reaching 
agreement between the social partners at European level - particularly 
in the area of vocational training - should form a major component of 
this Community cooperation. Consultation with and between the partners 
on access to skills has already been advocated in the 1997 Report on 
Access to Continuing Training. Community activity will provide support to 
the dialogue between and with the social partners on all themes of 
common interest. 
0 Economic partners. There must be a commitment to securing greater 
involvement of the business sector. Particular attention must be paid to 
training and especially management training in SMEs. Similarly, 
consultation needs to be further developed with the partners in the 
information society and those involved in disseminating educational 
products. The dividing line between the world of education and that of 
the information society is increasingly fluid, and connections need to be 
established in both directions to improve the quality of education 
products. 
0 Regional and local partners. The organisation of Community activities 
must take account of the trend towards decentralisation of 
responsibilities observed in many Member States - particularly with 
regard to vocational training. The contribution of the regional/local levels 
- particularly the business sector which is involved in all forms of 
partnerships - must be properly taken into account. Those active at 
regional or local level will therefore see an enhancement of their role. 
0 Partners in the voluntary sector. Community activities must attract the 
support of associations and foundations involved in actions of tangible 
solidarity, and those involved in promoting integration through 
exchanges of young people or through voluntary service. 
4. TARGETED INTERNA TIONAL COOPERA TION 
• This new policy is also an active participant in the run-up to enlargement. 
Education, training and youth programmes are already open to the EEA 
countries (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) and are gradually opening up 
to those applicant countries participating in the pre-accession strategy 
(Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Cyprus, Poland, the Slovak 
Republic, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia). The European 
Union has gradually moved from an approach based on assistance in the 
development of their systems to an approach based on cooperation, 
including cooperation with the Tempus' programme. 
• As it seeks to focus these actions, the EU will have to strengthen its policy of 
cooperation and exchanges of experience and expertise with: 
0 the Mediterranean countries: greater and better balanced involvement of 
these countries in cooperation activities is essential in order to 
guarantee mutual understanding and to strengthen the basis of political 
stability in the region; 
0 the industrialised countries (USA, Canada, Japan, Russia, etc.): here the 
need is for an approach which is consistent with and appropriate to the 
specific advantages of cooperation activities with each of these 
countries. 
II. A MORE INTEGRATED SET OF ARRANGEMENTS 
1 LEGAL INSTRUMENTS 
® This policy will be couched in legal instruments based on Articles 126 and 
127 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC). Common 
provisions will reflect the will for integration. 
0 A common framework of activities, coordination and monitoring will detail 
the objectives, types of measures, common and experimental activities 
and the monitoring of good practices. 
0 Three decisions based on Articles 126 and 127 of the Treaty will define 
the specific framework for activities concerning the fields of education, 
training and youth. Each of these decisions will include common articles 
with a view to reinforcing consistency and expressing the will for 
common action, coordination and dissemination of good practice. 
2. BUDGETARY RESOURCES AND COMPLEMENTARITY 
• A Europe of knowledge will necessitate a debate on priorities and resources. 
When the follow-up to the White Paper was discussed, the European 
Parliament stressed in its opinion that budgetary resources commensurate 
with the aims must be made available. 
• In its Agenda 2000 guidelines the Commission signalled its intention to 
submit budgetary proposals corresponding to an ambitious policy which may 
imply an increase in budgetary resources higher than the increase in GNP. 
® Greater complementarity and synergy with other Community policies will be 
sought, but the Commission will take care to avoid any risk of duplication. 
Joint actions such as calls for proposals common to a number of 
programmes, for instance, or launching activities drawing on resources from 
several programmes, are effective ways of coordinating and building up 
common approaches. 
• The Agenda 2000 guidelines for structural policy are a key factor for 
complementarity. The development of human resources will be a key 
element not only in Objective 1 and 2 regions but also throughout the EU, 
and will have to be pursued in a consistent manner. A new Objective 3 is 
envisaged to cover the regions lying outside Objectives 1 and 2 in order to 
help Member States to adapt and modernise their education and training 
systems. The knowledge policy will therefore dovetail well with the new 
structural policy. 
3. STREAMLINED IMPLEMENTATION 
VISIBILITY AND TRANSPARENCY 
• The Commission intends to raise the visibility of Community action and of 
the Union's aims. It will propose a limited number of objectives and activities 
corresponding very closely to the political priorities adopted at EU level. 
• The Commission also intends to examine carefully how certain educational 
products and activities might benefit from the award of a European label 
based on criteria of quality and transnational cooperation. 
PARTNERSHIPS 
• The approach which we are putting forward is one cf partnership,, aiming to 
achieve consistency and better consultation with different types of interested 
parties : 
0 the political authorities at national, regional and local level in the Member 
States; 
0 the other (educational, social, economic and voluntary) parties involved 
in building the European educational area; and 
0 the operators involved in implementation in close contact with the 
beneficiaries. 
This partnership should ensure a better continuing political overview, wide-
ranging consultation and appropriate implementation. 
• The greater spirit of cooperation which should be the hallmark of the new 
generation of activities could also lead to bodies or processes being set up -
with the support whenever necessary of the existing bodies - to enable the 
main parties involved at national level to better follow developments in 
Community action through national monitoring committees. The object would 
be to enable them to achieve a better understanding of the principles and 
aims of such action and thus to be in a better position to use the results for 
national policies. 
MONITORING AND EVALUA TION 
• In order to enhance understanding of Community action and promote 
greater complementarity and consistency between the various Community 
policies affecting human resources, evaluation procedures will be improved. 
• The steps taken at the Amsterdam European Council to further the 
coordination of employment policies show the considerable advantages 
which concerted follow-up at Community levé! would bring. The various 
reports currently provided for the action programmes will be replaced by 
regular progress reports from the Commission and the Member States on 
the extent to which the objectives of the programme are being fulfilled and 
on the obstacles encountered. 
IMPROVED AND SIMPLIFIED PROCEDURES 
With the implementation of programmes deploying ever greater resources, 
management arrangements have evolved. This evolution took account, 
notably, of differing situations arising from the variety of management 
cultures, diversity in funding arrangements, multi-annual contract 
management, and centralised or decentralised management. An audit 
policy has been pursued to review and develop contract rules. 
The Commission will make easily accessible points of contact and decision­
making available to the public. For the management of day-to-day affairs, it 
will put forward proposals for decentralisation of decisions to the levels 
closest to the parties concerned. It will study the conditions which would 
allow a greater degree of management responsibility to be delegated to 
certain broadly-based types of projects or networks ,or to public-private 
partnerships. 
This greater degree of decentralisation - which will be all the more 
necessary in view of the substantial growth in the number of countries taking 
part in the future programmes - will be accompanied by measures to 
strengthen the Commission's capacity to carry out not only its 
responsibilities in terms of management and supervision of budget 
execution, but also the crucial functions of stimulation, coordination of 
decentralised management structures and follow-up and dissemination of 
results. 
The need is to progress towards an arrangement which favours a genuine 
management partnership between all the levels involved and which 
improves cofinancing arrangements with public and private sources, 
nationally, regionally and locally. 
The Commission will propose an improved organisation and distribution of 
structures for assistance and operational management. In particular, the 
national agencies must step up their role of assisting promoters, particularly 
as regards the identification of partners, counselling applicants and taking a 
full part in monitoring and evaluation activities. 
Simplification should lead to more user-friendly access to Community aid, 
particularly by reducing decision-making time, simplifying administrative 
procedures and reducing the number of single-establishment contracts as 
part of a global grant approach. While fully respecting the general rules on 
accounting, proposals will be examined to introduce more flexibility, e.g. by 
providing for muiti-annual funding procedures or phasing projects to take 
account of the different stages of feasibility, preparation, implementation and 
dissemination. 
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ISSN 0254-1475 
COM(97) 563 final 
DOCUMENTS 
EN 04 05 16 
Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-623-EN-C 
ISBN 92-78-27649-9 
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