29. Calls on the Commission to include in any future White Paper a clear timetable for a report to the
budgetary authority on its implementation, and to respect this timetable;
30. Calls on the Commission in any future report on the implementation of a White Paper to evaluate
the success or failure of the actions and measures it has taken and an assessment of whether these havebeen good value for money;
31. Calls on the Commission to present any such report in clear and plain language and to make an
effort to organize any such report in such a way that it is easy to understand;
32. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the govern-
ments of the Member States.
18. e-Learning  Designing tomorrows education
A5-0152/2001
European Parliament resolution on the Commission communications on the initiative and the
action plan for 2001-2004 entitled e-Learning  Designing tomorrows education
(COM(2000) 318  C5-0741/2000 and COM(2001) 172  C5-0151/2001  2000/2337(COS))
The European Parliament,
 having regard to the Commission communication (COM(2000) 318  C5-0741/2000)
 having regard to the Commission communication (COM(2001) 172  C5-0151/2001),
 having regard to Articles 149, 150 and 157 of the EC Treaty, having regard to the report from the Commission entitled The concrete future objectives of education
systems (COM(2001) 59),
 having regard to the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council meeting of 23 and 24 March 2000
and the Santa Maria da Feira European Council meeting of 19/20 June 2000,
 having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure, having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport and
the opinions of the Committee on Budgets and the Committee on Womens Rights and Equal Oppor-tunities (A5-0152/2001),
A. whereas, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, the Communitys role is to encourage the
Member States to meet important goals relating to the quality of education,
B. whereas the e-Learning initiative is helping to strengthen the idea of a single European educational
area, which complements the European research area and the European single market,
C. whereas know-how, knowledge and information have become the driving force of our society;
whereas the e-Learning project is helping to devise a different way of learning and must aim primarilyto extend the wealth of human understanding,
D. whereas too small a percentage of teachers and trainers have the skills required to use new techno-
logies as an integral part of their normal teaching methods,
E. whereas childrens access to information and communication technologies is greatly affected by geo-
graphical, social and cultural inequalities,
F. whereas the high cost of telecommunications in Europe represents an obstacle to the extensive use of
the Internet and the development of the digital culture and poses the risk of widening the gap betweenthose who have access to the new information and communication technologies and those who donot,7.2.2002 EN C 34 E/153 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 15 May 2001
G. whereas in terms of developing new technologies there is a gap not only between the United States
and Europe but also within the European Union itself, particularly between the eastern and westernEuropean countries,
H. whereas there is a lack of satisfactory equipment in the majority of schools (both state and private
schools), universities and training centres in Europe, as regards both hardware and software,
I. whereas the European multimedia educational software industry is under-developed and the relation-
ship between the education and training systems and the industry has failed to generate services thatactually meet educational needs in Europe,
J. whereas the e-Learning initiative is designed to cut across various Community programmes which are
already running (managed by different Directorates-General), such as Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci,Culture 2000, Media Plus and e-Content in the area of culture, education and training; the fifth andthe forthcoming sixth Research Framework Programme, Ten-Telecom, TSER and Meda; and possiblyalso the European Social Fund and the Structural Funds,
K. whereas the success of the e-Learning initiative will depend on the extent of the financial contributions
allocated to it under each current Community programme, as well as on the financial resources madeavailable by the Member States,
1. Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to take account of the following points:
(a) Shares the goal set by the Heads of State and of Government of ensuring that all citizens have life-
long access to training courses in the knowledge and skills necessary for living, working and contribu-ting to their personal enrichment in the new information society;
(b) Considers that the e-Learning project must not only take account of access to the new information
and communication technologies, but also guarantee e-content of quality, and training to use thatcontent;
(c) Calls on the Member States to make every effort to close the gap between those who have access to
new technologies and those who are excluded, and to provide for priority actions aimed at minoritygroups, such as old people, the disabled, the unskilled and residents of isolated and island regions, andat women;
(d) Calls on the Commission to define priority measures to reduce the new technology gap between, on
the one hand, countries within the European Union and, on the other, EU countries and the candidate
countries of eastern Europe;
(e) Calls on the Member States and the Commission to encourage cooperation between society and pri-
vate enterprise in the process of investing in new technologies, providing hardware and specifically inextending the content networks;
(f) Calls on the Member States to promote measures to reduce the costs of access to new technologies
and the Internet;
(g) Expects that, through the e-Europe comprehensive action plan, the objectives set by the Lisbon Euro-
pean Council meeting, as well as the employment policy guidelines, can be given concrete effect;
(h) Wishes e-Learning also to give practical shape to:
 the objectives of the Lisbon European Council, and the Stockholm follow-up to it with the report
on concrete future objectives of education and training systems;
 the employment guidelines; attractive life-long learning for all; and
 the promotion of virtual mobility;
(i) Expects the goal set at Lisbon of equipping all schools in the Union with Internet access by the end of
2001 actually to be met and all teachers to have high-speed access to the Internet, personalised elec-tronic mail, an annual refresher course or programme in technologies and teaching methods andmultimedia teaching resources by 2002;C 34 E/154 EN 7.2.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 15 May 2001
(j) Proposes, in accordance with the Lisbon objectives for bridging the digital gap in the emerging
information society and boosting social cohesion, to enable every schoolchild and student to have anelectronic address at their place of education;
(k) Calls on the Council and Member States to look into the possibilities for flat rates for internet access
by educational establishments;
(l) Calls on the Council and the Member States to promote the creation of a high-speed, highly flexible
and highly multi-cultural trans-European network which will link up research institutes, universities,scientific libraries and ultimately schools, businesses and local and national administrations for theexchange of scientific and other information in the various languages, and which can spearheadteachers efforts at bench-marking and at exchanging best practice;
(m) Urges the Commission to ensure that e-Learning measures supported by Community funds give abso-
lute priority to teacher training and that, where funds allow, other sectors such as the training oftrainers or the exchange of experience between research experts are also able to enjoy Communitysupport;
(n) Asks the Commission and the Member States to encourage the use of ICT for school twinning and
collaboration in Europe, and to help teachers to adopt new and innovative ways of working with ICTthrough Europe-wide dissemination of leading examples and practice, and with this purpose supporteSchola  a week for e-Learning in Europe;
(o) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the e-Learning initiative concentrates
on priority objectives: providing all schools with the necessary technological infrastructure and train-ing teachers (who, more than anyone, are responsible for education), through bench-markingmeasures and the exchange of best practice, so that they acquire knowledge and skills in the use ofthe new technologies for educational purposes, in both content and software, which should be flex-ible, multicultural and should take account of the specific characteristics of pupils and other diversefactors, in order to improve child and adult pupils capacity to learn, by developing distance learningand differentiated and individualised teaching methods;
(p) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that the e-Learning initiative gives absolute
priority to integrating the information technologies in school curricula, by means of teaching methodsthat use the new technologies; considers that teaching centres will be responsible for developing thecontent of the new school curricula, thus providing a higher standard of excellence and competitionbetween centres;
(q) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to launch, with the e-Learning initiative, an ambi-
tious European policy for developing high-quality educational multimedia software, content and ser-vices that are adapted to the needs of teaching and professional training;
(r) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to create the necessary fora to encourage relations
between education and training establishments and the content industry in order to generate high-quality educational products;
(s) Calls on the Member States to ensure, by the end of 2002, that as many teachers as possible are
trained in the use of the Internet, high-speed and database networks and multimedia resources, andto provide them, by the end of 2003, with such training as will ensure that they are digitally literateand capable of adapting the new electronic communication systems to the classroom in a critical andeducationally responsible manner;
(t) Calls on the Member States to promote policies for motivating teachers, by showing them that the
information technologies can offer them a number of advantages: they are cost-effective, efficient andcut red-tape in schools;
(u) Calls on the Commission to continue to help ensure, by supporting European networks such as Euro-
pean Schoolnet  a joint initiative of the Commission and the Member States in 1997 for the devel-opment of ICT in schools , that training and research centres become local multipurpose knowledgeacquisition centres open to all, using methods that reflect the diverse nature of the groups at whichthey are aimed and the goal of life-long learning;7.2.2002 EN C 34 E/155 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 15 May 2001
(v) Intends to support the e-Learning initiative, which it regards as an absolute priority in the area of
education, and to provide adequate funding under the budget for the relevant coordination, manage-ment and assessment tasks, including the human resources required;
(w) Calls on the Commission to ensure it has the necessary structures in place in order to operate suc-
cessfully, in particular an effective task force led by the EAC Directorate-General to be responsible forthe horizontal coordination of the e-Learning initiative as it affects all the Community programmesthat are involved in various ways, and to carry out an in-depth study of experience obtained to datein the Member States in the educational use of the new technologies, in order to identify consistentlysuccessful or less effective educational uses of the new information and communication technologies;
(x) Calls on the Commission to urge the Member States to ensure that the infrastructure provides high
quality standards, that general quality criteria and assessment rules are laid down, both for contentand the level of training courses available, and that the aim should be for bench-marking whereverpossible;
(y) Calls on the Commission to consider seriously the possibility of submitting a series of measures and
actions aimed at promoting the work of each Member State in the area of the application of newtechnologies to teaching, thereby helping to reinforce the implementation of a European educationalarea;
(z) Calls on the Commission to support proposals and initiatives of Member States and regional auth-
orities to promote the learning of information technology skills, to adopt proposals aimed at definingnew basic skills (technical knowledge, foreign languages, etc.) and to define a system for the mutual
recognition of national qualifications and diplomas in information technology;
(aa) Calls on the Commission to define indicators to monitor the development of e-Learning, including
indicators monitoring the equality of childrens access to information and communication techno-
logies regardless of geographical, social or cultural inequalities; these indicators will give the MemberStates better information on their results in implementing e-Learning;
(ab) Recalls that in the 2001 Budget the appropriations foreseen for the e-Learning initiative under a
preparatory action in the meaning of Article 37 of the IIA of 6 May 1999 were increased by Parlia-ment;
(ac) Stresses that, according to Article 274 of the Treaty, the Commission should implement the budget
voted, while Parliament, as part of the budgetary authority, has the responsibility to ensure the bestvalue for money in deciding the priorities and the monitoring of budget implementation;
(ad) Underlines that the information and knowledge-based society to which e-Learning refers is taken into
account in the guidelines for the 2002 budget procedure;
(ae) Intends to use the instruments provided by the IIA of 6 May 1999 to fund Parliaments priorities in
respect of the authorised ceilings; considers that the possibility of concentrating the appropriations asmuch as possible should be looked at in the context of the 2002 Budget;
(af) Expects the Commission to provide an adequate and specific legal framework for Parliaments prior-
ities which have received financial support and the effectiveness of which can be assessed;
(ag) Calls for the action plan which is to be submitted to the next meeting of the Council of Education
Ministers on 28 May 2001 to take due account of the principle of gender equality in all relevantareas, with particular reference to those covered by the employment guidelines and the EuropeanSocial Agenda adopted at the Nice European Council;
(ah) Calls on the Commission and the Member States to encourage the public and private sector to close
the gap in education and training systems in informatics between female students, who constitute lessthan 20 %, and male students, who constitute more than 80 %, and therefore calls for special trainingschemes to be organised for women, particularly female teachers in gender segregated courses;C 34 E/156 EN 7.2.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 15 May 2001
(ai) Calls for specific initiatives to be taken to foster the development of appropriate educational software
for women and girls; calls for support for regional and local training centres especially for women andgirls, and calls for a reduction in the current digital divide by involving marginalised groups, such asunemployed single mothers;
(aj) Endorses the stated objective of stepping up the interconnection of virtual forums and campuses, the
networking of universities, schools, training centres, and multi-disciplinary learning centres open toall; calls for this to be used as an opportunity to organise and establish a register of exchanges of bestpractice in the teaching and training of young girls and women.
2. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission and the govern-
ments and parliaments of the Member States.
19. Broad economic guidelines for 2001
A5-0165/2001
European Parliament resolution on the Commissions recommendation for the broad guidelines of
the economic policies of the Member States and the Community for 2001 (COM(2001) 224 
C5-0169/2001  2001/2081(COS))
The European Parliament,
 having regard to the Commissions recommendation (COM(2001) 224  C5-0169/2001), having regard to Articles 98 and 99 of the Treaty establishing the European Community,
 having regard to Rule 41 of its Rules of Procedure,
 having regard to the Commissions report on the implementation of the 2000 broad economic policy
guidelines (COM(2001) 105),
 having regard to the Commissions report on economic reform: report on the functioning of Com-
munity product and capital markets (COM(2000) 881),
 having regard to the report of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the opinion of
the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (A5-0165/2001),
A. whereas the start of 2002 is an historic juncture in that, for the first time in history, twelve sovereign
states will be sharing a common currency and using the same notes and coins,
B. whereas this represents a further stage in the process of the integration of national economies, follow-
ing on from the free-trade area, customs union and the internal market,
C. whereas it appears appropriate to use a new term for this form of cooperation between states and
describe a common market with a common currency as a home market,
D. whereas at the Lisbon meeting of the European Council the Union set itself the new strategic goal of
becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world with more and
better jobs and greater social cohesion;
E. whereas the Union is now faced with the challenge of formulating appropriate common economic
policies for this European home market with a single monetary policy. These should be drawn up inaccordance with the principles of a social market economy,
F. whereas, for the time being, the procedure establishing the European Unions broad economic policy
guidelines is the main instrument for coordinating the economic policies of the European Union,7.2.2002 EN C 34 E/157 Official Journal of the European Communities
Tuesday 15 May 2001