Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on 'European cultural policy for children'

(96/C 153/06)

The Economic and Social Committee decided on 29 March 1996, in accordance with Rule 23(3) of its Rules of Procedure, to draw up an Opinion on 'European cultural policy for children'.

The Section for Social, Family, Educational and Cultural Affairs, which was responsible for the preparatory work, adopted its Opinion on 15 February 1996. The Rapporteur was Mr Sklavounos.

At its 333rd Plenary Session (meeting of 28 February 1996), the Economic and Social Committee adopted the following Opinion by a majority in favour and one vote against.

1. Introduction: the purpose of the Opinion

A cultural policy for children, in the context of this Opinion, is broadly based (see point 2.1), but not to be confused with on-going Committee work concerning EU social, labour market or educational and training measures in their stricter sense. It is a policy for children which, according to the UN definition, includes young people up to the age of 18, but which in this Opinion means primarily a younger age group whose cultural development is strongly influenced by parental and societal 'role models'. The Opinion considers family life, schooling, leisure and entertainment and child-care facilities as crucial facets of this development. It makes value judgements concerning children's rights, upbringing and exploitation (see point 2.7), but it does not judge or rigidly define the family as such. Finally, the Opinion is focused on a European cultural policy for children which is not 'Euro-centric' but broadly-based, multicultural, multi-ethnical and multilingual.

Indeed language is among the most important means of communication in any cultural policy. A systematic effort should be made to improve knowledge and appreciation of one's mother tongue, and to encourage curiosity and interest in, foreign languages. The fostering of a European cultural policy for children would provide a suitable framework.

1.1. The present Opinion seeks to:

- stress the need for special attention to be given by the Member States to the cultural development and education of new generations so as to obviate the risks both of cultural indifference and levelling and of cultural chauvinism leading to fanaticism and extremism;

- stress the urgent need for a general effort to mobilize and cooperate at all levels (between Member States, Ministers concerned, between national or local cultural bodies, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, between religious, political and social youth organizations); this effort would aim both to provide high-quality cultural education at local level and to encourage and support the creation of conditions and means for deeper and broader cultural communication between the new generations of Europe;

- stress the urgent need for pan-European cooperation with the aim of combating racism and xenophobia and developing a culture of acceptance of and respect for differences among children in Europe;

- show that, as part of the extension of existing measures and policies for culture in general, it is possible to encourage new activities to meet urgent cultural needs of European children.

As an example: the institution of town-twinning could be enriched with the twinning of schools, children's choirs and youth organizations.

In the context of cultural capitals and cultural months, special emphasis can be placed on cultural themes of interest to the children of Europe, such as children's television, cinema and books.

1.2. The existing policy on books and translations could be extended to low cost and high quality children's books, access to them and wide circulation.

1.3. Annex 2 of the White Paper on education and training lists examples of Community programmes concerning young people's cultural development. Whilst commending these programmes, the Committee would still pose the question whether they are sufficiently broad and meaningful as to challenge the massive exclusion felt by youth towards the European Union.

2. General comments and the need for a policy on children's culture

2.1. A general starting point for the current Opinion has been established in various earlier Opinions of the ESC, in particular the Opinion and additional Opinion on a fresh boost for culture (). In this previous work, the Committee drew upon the UNESCO definition that 'culture may be defined as the combined spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional characteristics of a society or social group' (). The Committee further commented that:

'Culture is seen as a dynamic, evolutive enrichment of daily life. The European Community dimension has and can continue significantly to contribute to this, not in any perceived "identikit" fashion, but through the harmony upon which diversity thrives, through increased contact, comparison and mixing, and the identification both of different cultural traditions and of common uniting principles, of mutual understanding and the elimination of prejudices between peoples. The European 'cultural model' is not all-exclusive, still less a "melting pot", but rather a multifarious, multi-ethnical plurality of culture, the sum total of which enriches each individual culture. The European "cultural model" serves not as a "fortress" but as an open springboard towards other cultures both throughout the Community and throughout the world.' ()

2.2. A European cultural policy for children should also be interpreted in the above sense - an 'open springboard' of diverse traditions and common values. Like an orchestra or choir, it should seek harmony, not homogeneity. It should echo and relate, not deaden, each participating 'voice'. It should generate, not stifle, excellence and enthusiasm. Such a policy should be broadly based and rest upon giving encouragement and support throughout the European Union for the promotion of cultural activities for children with a view to enriching their 'spiritual, material intellectual and emotional' development.

2.3. Article 128 of the Treaty would confirm this approach:

'1. The Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore.

2. Action by the Community shall be aimed at encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, supporting and supplementing their action...'

2.4. The policy measures proposed in the present Opinion therefore concern both the European Union and international organizations and the Member States of the European Union. Besides education and the family, they are also relevant to companies involved in children's pleasurable learning, recreation, entertainment, leisure and culture at local, regional, national, European and worldwide level, as well as European and national non-profitmaking organizations and non-governmental organizations.

2.5. Appropriate utilization of existing European policy on a) culture, b) youth, and c) sport and education constitutes a step in the proposed direction to make the policy put forward in this Opinion realistic and immediately applicable without the use of substantial new resources.

2.6. The need to draft and implement a European cultural policy for children should also take into account, from a factual rather than a value-judgement base, developments in European family life, including the increase in the divorce rate, the increase in the number of under-age and single-parent families and the growing absence of parental care and attention.

2.7. From a value-judgement base, however, a policy is necessary because of:

- the widespread abuse of children: physically, psychologically, sexually, in child prostitution and child pornography;

- the increasing juvenile crime and delinquency, the inability of society to deal effectively with the growing scourge of drugs, especially among the young, and the use of drugs by ever younger children; ()

- child labour and exploitation;

- the failure to implement UN resolutions on children's rights and the proposals of the European Forum on children's rights;

- the high levels of unemployment and poverty among the young;

- the high proportion of families in Europe living below the poverty line who therefore have limited means of access to cultural life and cannot afford to offer their children cultural goods, quality recreation or free-time activities which stimulate their cultural development - the very limited proportion of family income spent on culture;

- the lack of facilities for sport, exercise, recreation or creative use of young people's free time in the big cities and rural areas of Europe;

- the fact that television - in most cases commercial television - has become the constant companion of young people in Europe, to latch-key children, often acting as 'educator' and baby-sitter (a significant number of children over 5 have a TV in their bedroom), and often with declining standards in children's programmes, advertising and videos;

- the development and establishment of a climate in which young people do not trust the traditional democratic and social institutions of Europe;

- the emergence of racism, xenophobia and neo-fascism in Europe, particularly among the young - phenomena which foreshadow the permanent presence of racial and religious tensions within Europe, including the formation of extremist political groups and movements;

- the growing crisis situation in public schooling which manifests itself in various European countries either through an increasing number of primary and secondary school pupils leaving school without qualifications or through a clear decline in the ability to read or do arithmetic, the increasing number of primary and secondary school pupils who are being expelled from school, the increasing number of children below 10 in care.

2.8. A European cultural policy for children could also acknowledge:

- the need for personal development and fulfilment that may lead to social sensitivity;

- a basic propensity towards positive individual and group behaviour can be cultivated during childhood - creativity, a willingness to cooperate, social skills and the foundations for the formation and development of a communicative individual and citizen, are cultivated during childhood;

- the naturalness of racial differences and of the usefulness of differences in character and culture, tolerance and creative utilization of such differences - the foundations for a personality with a willingness to participate in dialogue and with a democratic conscience and outlook - all these things are cultivated and developed during childhood;

- perseverance, patience, powers of observation, the ability to concentrate, dedication and love for one's work - the foundations giving rise to the productive workers of tomorrow - are cultivated and developed in childhood;

- the love of learning, knowledge and beauty are the foundations of life-long education in the service not only of expediency, but also of beauty;

- the love of physical health, exercise, sport and healthy lifestyles are best established during childhood;

- love and respect for nature and man - the foundations that give rise to a rounded personality - are cultivated and developed in childhood.

2.8.1. All the above can be cultivated and developed at European level through the European children's folktale, the European children's story, the rich contribution and joy that can come from children from ethnic minorities playing a full part in Europe's multi-ethnical cultural development, children's cinema, television, children's theatre, a new school sport policy, a new policy to integrate the young generation into society and promote its cultural development.

2.8.2. The Committee feels that drafting and implementing such a policy is an investment which will bring a constant return in the economic and social development of the EU. It is an investment for social cohesion and social competitiveness. The Committee feels that a heavy price would be paid for avoiding or delaying investment in this area.

2.9. Drafting and implementing a general cultural policy for the children of Europe is particularly essential given that the measures taken to date do not constitute a policy.

3. General proposals

The areas and activities which influence and form both the culture of everyday life and the cultural values of the younger generation in Europe are:

- the family;

- the education system;

- the mass information and mass entertainment media.

The prevailing ways and means of making use of free time, e.g. sport, play of all kinds, familiarization with the arts, cultural tourism.

The prevailing forms of initiation and access for European children to traditional and modern cultural creation and inquiry, cultural education, artistic training.

The prevailing forms and patterns of adult behaviour in relation to other adults, in carrying out tasks, in interpersonal relationships, in the operation of society and the state.

The values which a society judges worthy to be handed down to posterity and the way in which organized society with its institutions seeks to consolidate these values in the new generation.

Youth organizations (social, political, religious, national and pan-European) and their policy.

It is clear that political action is needed at all these levels.

3.1. The family

3.1.1. In Europe the family is in a state of the most profound crisis, yet it constitutes the foremost point of interest for European youth in the hierarchy of values and appreciations.

3.1.2. The International Year of the Family in 1994 gave the European Union and its various bodies the opportunity to concern themselves with the family as an institution.

3.1.3. There must be an assessment of the Year of the Family to determine whether conclusions and proposals which emerged from the various discussion fora and the various EU bodies have been acted upon.

3.1.4. It is essential for bodies such as COFACE to be strengthened by every possible means. Moreover, for COFACE to be an effective expression of the European family vis-à-vis the European Union bodies, it must operate in every Member State of the Union.

3.1.5. Priority must be given to implementation of policy measures relating to children. Account must be taken of the conclusions of the working groups at the meeting held in Madrid from 1 to 3 December 1994 as part of the International Year of the Family:

- working group on children's participation in family and social life;

- policy on the family and the interests of the child;

- studies on a) cultural changes and their effects on children and parents, b) television advertisements, images of children.

3.1.6. Account will also have to be taken of the conclusions of the steering committees set up by the Council of Europe during the International Year of the Family, which concern particularly the children of Europe, such as:

- the committee on education;

- the committee on intergovernmental cooperation in the youth sector;

- the committee on mass information media;

- the committee on human rights;

- the committee on problems relating to crime.

3.2. Education

3.2.1. While fully respecting the principle of autonomy of the Member States in the formulation of education policy, the ESC thinks it necessary to stress that:

- the Member States and the European Union must make every possible effort to establish certain principles in education policy which would be useful independently of individual national education policies;

- on pre-school education, the ESC notes the COFACE proposals ;

- in primary and middle-school education, it is essential for school to be a pleasant place for children to be in: the role of teachers is of primary importance in bringing out creativity based on a culture of dialogue and responsible participation; teaching methods must be stimulating, must cultivate and develop love of learning;

- institutionally and operationally, school must be something which children can come to love. At that age the relationship with school and learning will determine the pupils' attitude to knowledge throughout their lives. If pupils could enjoy, feel part of, and be challenged by school, this would undoubtedly reduce the high proportion of pupils who leave school at an early age or without formal qualifications. A pleasant school which pupils find interesting will certainly act as a factor to limit the rising level of violence observed among schoolchildren;

- school, as the child's first contact with the world outside his family, should help him to become aware of the social and cultural diversity of our society, and to think of this diversity as a source of human richness which can produce tolerance and harmony, rather than as a reason for conflict and exclusion.

3.2.2. The points made in the White Paper on education and training are useful, and serious account must be taken of them.

3.2.3. Youth for Europe is a good start which allows financial assistance to be given from the EU Budget for a wide range of projects relevant to young people and especially in the fields of education, equal treatment and citizenship. All these should be encouraged and widely used as should the European Youth Parliament and the European Youth Orchestra.

3.3. Mass information media

3.3.1. The Committee perceives a need for collation and better implementation of all the decisions and directives directly or indirectly relating to mass information media and children. These would include decisions by bodies, relevant Ministers, Parliament, etc. concerning protection of children from advertising, protection of children's mental/emotional well-being, preparation of children to help them deal with prejudiced ideas, racism, etc.

3.3.2. The Committee thinks it vital to encourage private, state and public-interest mass information media, at European Union and Member State level, to create children's sections, children's broadcasts and high-quality productions for children.

3.4. Making the most of free time and leisure time

3.4.1. Another subject which should exercise the Member States, relevant Ministers, the European Union and national and European youth organizations (social, political and religious) is how to create the necessary conditions for the creative use of free time by children in Europe.

3.4.2. It is desirable to promote games which assist the spiritual and mental development of children, employ their time creatively, and do not entail high costs for the family budget - for example, chess and various types of indoor games.

3.4.3. It is also desirable to encourage and strengthen the role of youth organizations such as Scouts and Guides in cooperative programmes among the Member States and at the pan-European level. It is necessary to strengthen the role of national youth councils in the development of policies to achieve the best possible use of free time at Member State and European Union level.

3.4.4. Support for family leisure time and family activity should be encouraged (see 3.1 and 4.1.3).

4. Specific proposals

4.1. The Treaty and children

4.1.1. The promotion of a European cultural policy for children, 'bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore' while respecting 'national and regional diversity', should be specifically stated in Article 128 of the Treaty.

4.1.2. With a view to promoting international understanding among children, a European cultural policy for children should also encourage cooperation among children and young people as part of efforts to develop the EU's external relations as well as in connection with related cooperation programmes and resource use.

4.1.3. The Treaty should also have specific provision for family policy, reconciling family and working life, promoting family values, caring facilities, more help and training for children with disabilities, children's rights and basic transnational adoption and fostering regulation throughout the Community ().

4.1.4. The Committee welcomes the recent agreement reached by the European social partners on parental leave and leave for family reasons, and hopes that this agreement will rapidly come into force by a Council decision. The Council Recommendation concerning child care () might also be updated and enriched.

4.2. European children's books

4.2.1. In order to encourage more reading, it is proposed that the European literary prize should be extended to cover children's books.

4.2.2. The annual award to the writer who has made a substantial contribution to modern European literature could be accompanied by an award for the best, second-best and third-best children's book in Europe. (European Children's Folktale - European Children's Story - European Comic; 3 × ECU 25 000: in all ECU 75 000).

4.2.3. The European translation prize should be extended to cover children's books. The annual award goes to the translator who has produced a translation of exceptional quality from an important work. The prize could be extended to include a competition for the best three European children's books in each European language.

4.2.4. The cost of awarding prizes for translations at national level could be split 50-50 between Community and national funds:

- 1 × ECU 20 000 for the best European translation;

- 15 × ECU 20 000, ECU 300 000 ÷ 2: ECU 150 000 from the European budget.

4.3. European children's library

4.3.1. The planned boost for the writing and translation of children's books on a Europe-wide scale creates the conditions for the establishment of a European children's library, a European bibliography of children's folktales, stories, comics etc. as a basis for cultural communication between the peoples of Europe.

4.3.2. Translation of European children's books into European languages will give Europe the chance to launch a counter-offensive in the world of children's culture, making the most of communities of Europeans throughout the world. The consequences of such a prospect would be positive, not only culturally but also economically. The international Spanish, French and English-speaking markets, as well as the market among Europeans throughout the world, which are crying out for quality children's books, could satisfy their needs with European products.

4.3.3. The awarding of prizes and the exposure given to the prize-winning book and translation could be combined with the cultural capital programme and the cultural month scheme.

4.3.4. It is essential that any policy to support children's books should include provision for tackling the ever higher cost of publishing, especially in languages with a limited book-buying public.

4.3.5. Support from the Member States for Community publishers who focus on quality children's editions is a policy which should be encouraged by the EU.

4.4. European children's entertainment (video, cinema, television, theatre)

4.4.1. The EU and the Member States should encourage and foster quality production in the field of video films, children's cinema, TV and theatre.

4.4.2. The relevant Community bodies (Council of Ministers of Culture, Education, etc.) should look into the usefulness of setting up an annual children's entertainment festival with awards for the best video production (1 000 000), the best children's cinema production (1 000 000) and the best children's TV production (1 000 000).

4.4.3. Financing the dubbing of the prize-winning works by sharing the cost between the Member States and the EU will mark the start of a new era in European children's entertainment and European children's TV, which is currently inundated with all kinds of low-quality productions.

4.4.4. The proposed boost for European children's entertainment production will certainly have a positive effect on the European balance of trade in this field. The commercial success of films such as Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas demonstrates the economic extent of the problem. So provision for boosting children's cinema through the new special allocation set aside for promoting European cinema will have a number of benefits.

4.5. European children's music academy

It is proposed to set up a European children's music academy with the objective of advancing access to, knowledge of and progress in children's songs and music throughout Europe, and of encouraging more transnational cooperation among school music departments in terms of methods, techniques and material. The academy could research, store and record the vast array of Europe's rich heritage of children's music and song, and promote concerts, workshops and special transnational musical events (for example at Christmas time or during other festive periods) in cooperation with existing academies and musical companies, and with the support of performers, music writers, youth orchestras and choirs, children's bands and young music lovers in Europe.

4.6. European children's television

4.6.1. The Committee is deeply concerned about the confusing media messages which influence our children. It is appalled by the increasing violence and bad language on TV affecting children's perception and development. The policy underlying the Council Directive of 3 October 1989, which states that rules should be laid down to protect the physical, intellectual and moral development of young people in programmes and TV commercials, should be integrated with a preventive and more positive approach.

4.6.2. This should include: encouraging private and state television companies to show quality programmes; creating state institutions in each Member State charged with evaluating and rewarding areas of excellence in children's television and formulating a policy of economic incentives to improve the quality of the programmes on offer.

4.6.3. The lack of adequate recreation facilities and open play areas in Europe's big cities are among the factors which make television a necessary and inevitable companion for a good proportion of the young generation in Europe. In a large number of European families the television set is now in the children's bedroom. It is therefore a top priority to promote an improvement in the quality of the programming on offer for children. The ESC deplores violence-oriented TV programmes for children and young people, and would urge socio-professional organizations to take measures against TV companies which broadcast such programmes.

4.7. Sport

4.7.1. The ESC feels that the ministers responsible for sport could usefully collaborate to develop school sports in the EU, as well as sport for all and sport in the workplace. It would benefit the young people of Europe in many ways if their attention was turned away from passive admiration of professional sports stars, the products of the sporting star system, into a love for sport, exercise and individual and team games.

4.7.2. The increasingly widespread incidences of localistic and nationalistic sports hooliganism make it essential to take a close look at sports culture and policy. Violence in sport must be dealt with by concrete and specific measures at the athletic and penal levels.

4.7.3. The formation of groups of fanatical supporters, for whom sport is of secondary importance, is a dangerous reality of Europe-wide proportions which feeds and propagates group violence and group tension in other areas of social life.

4.7.4. Healthy models of diet and lifestyle will not catch on as a result of moralistic advertising aimed at adults, but rather as a result of positive experience gained during childhood from the pleasure of playing sport and the cultivation of a healthy lifestyle through sport.

4.8. Children with special needs

The prevailing 'culture' for children with special needs is based on the concept of 'disadvantage' and of social 'charity'. We need instead to see disability as a potential source of skills and sensitivity which other children do not normally acquire. EU programmes and actions in this field should be inspired by positive thinking. Another important issue is that culture must be accessible to a greater extent for children with disabilities e.g. that books be available in braille.

4.9. Cultural tourism for children

The prevailing model of mass tourism does little to encourage multicultural understanding between children and appreciation of Europe's rich traditions and diversity. A vast potential of friendship and cultural development could be enjoyed by the children of Europe if they were given more real opportunities to meet, mix and enjoy each other's hospitality without 'frontiers'. Transnational family exchanges, international youth camps and multicultural children's holiday packages need to be encouraged and promoted much more.

4.10. Extension of the Raphael programme

4.10.1. To conserve and make the most of the cultural heritage, especially in areas other than archaeological sites, museums, antiquities and other forms of history, the programme could be extended to include traditional craft workshops, folklore museums and schools for folk and traditional music. Making the most of the cultural heritage in this way may encourage a revival in traditional crafts.

4.10.2. Examples would be the creation of a workshop for traditional European shipbuilding in Greece on one of the islands which are still home to traditional shipbuilding methods, of a pan-European workshop for making traditional musical instruments in Vienna and of a traditional architecture workshop in Malta. Apart from providing productive employment, such initiatives could be integrated into pan-European educational tourism schemes, educational programmes for the young and youth exchange programmes. A European and multi-cultural museum of games could be an enjoyable way of generating interest among the young people of Europe in history and the cultural past of Europe and its peoples. Developing such an institution on a pan-European level could create a large number of jobs. An institution like this is already operating in Athens.

4.10.3. To implement such initiatives more economically, use could be made of operators with the necessary infrastructure, such as a university, a musical academy or a local council.

4.11. Programme to combat political apathy and to encourage participation in political life

4.11.1. The move by the young generation away from active involvement in public life is a threat to the future of democracy in Europe. It is essential to encourage young people, both at European and Member State level, to participate in an organized and active way in tackling their own problems and those of society in general.

4.11.2. For example, the European Council could institute a prize for the best drug prevention programme from among the national youth councils of Europe. It would also be worth encouraging Member State governments and the ministries responsible for youth to try holding a competition at national level between youth organizations for the most creative ways of tackling problems, such as the involvement of the young generation in political life, tackling youth unemployment and improved cooperation between educators, families and society.

4.12. Promotion of tolerance and understanding

4.12.1. At its meeting held on 9 and 10 December 1994 in Essen, the European Council emphasized the great importance for the EU of combating racism and xenophobia in order to safeguard human dignity and the peaceful coexistence of all European citizens.

4.12.2. On 21-26 March 1994 the Council organized a Europe-wide campaign against racism.

4.12.3. The ESC regards as important and topical the conclusions of the seminar funded by the European Council and held in Leeds, UK, in 1989 to tackle racism in the European nursery education system.

4.12.4. The ESC feels that racism can be tackled by means of correct upbringing during childhood: through play, folktales, children's theatre, cinema and through the behaviour models and roles available to Europe's children.

4.13. 1996: European Year of Life-long Learning and Training

4.13.1. For the programme to succeed, it is necessary to create a cultural climate of love for knowledge and learning: schools providing positive experience and families reinforcing this experience.

4.13.2. Designating 1996 as the Year of Life-long Learning and Training is an attempt to bring about a profound change in the attitude of the average European, and young people in particular, to knowledge, education and training.

4.13.3. The young European's first contact with the experience of learning is in elementary education, and the experience continues during secondary education. These experiences have a decisive influence on the young person's future attitude towards life-long learning and training.

4.13.4. At a time when there is a clear decline in the reading and arithmetical ability of 8-9 year olds, when children go to school because they have to, not because they like it, and when the number of children expelled from school is on the increase, the Member States should be encouraged in their attempts to improve the acceptance and performance of their schools.

4.13.5. The question is whether the model for the European school of the information society will be the same as the model for the European school of the Industrial Revolution.

4.13.6. Once it is acknowledged that, if Europe is to be competitive, a better educated, more adaptable and creative workforce is required to absorb changes in the production process, the question is whether the prevailing model for education and training in Europe can meet these needs, and the following:

- the ethos of work;

- the ethos of employment;

- the ethos of everyday behaviour;

- patterns of behaviour at home and at work;

- patterns of consumption;

- patterns of recreation and relaxation;

- values and conduct in relations between man and man and between man and nature;

- the attitude to learning, knowledge and beauty;

- the ability to communicate and conduct a dialogue

which are all established during childhood and are inherent in the culture which determines the consciousness of children at that age.

4.14. Promoting partnership

A European cultural policy for children could be encouraged by many of the above-stated points. It would also rest on a more dynamic, child-oriented, partnership between parents, the public authorities, civic organizations, business life, socio-professional activity and schools.

Done at Brussels, 28 February 1996.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Carlos FERRER

() OJ No C 175, 4. 7. 1988 and OJ No C 62, 26. 3. 1990.

() OJ No C 62, 26. 3. 1990, point 1.4.1.

() OJ No C 62, 26. 3. 1990, point 1.4.2.

() OJ No C 102, 24. 4. 1995.

() OJ No C 287, 4. 11. 1992.

() OJ No L 123, 8. 5. 1992, p. 16.