Council conclusions of 22 May 2008 on multilingualism
Date: 2008-06-06
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: adult education, continuing education, continuing vocational training, language teaching, multilingualism

C 140/14

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

6.6.2008

Council conclusions of 22 May 2008 on multilingualism

(2008/C 140/10)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

HAVING REGARD to:

9. the Resolution of the Council of 16 November 2007 on a
European Agenda for Culture (10), which sets multilingualism
as one of the priority areas for action to promote cultural
heritage,

1. the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of 23 and
24 March 2000, which included foreign languages within a
European framework for the definition of basic skills to be
provided through lifelong learning (1);

and in the light of the discussions during the Ministerial Confer-
ence on Multilingualism held on 15 February 2008,

2. Article 22 of

the Charter of

the
European Union, which recognises the principle that the
Union shall respect cultural, religious and linguistic diver-
sity (2);

fundamental rights of

3. the conclusions of

the Barcelona European Council of
15 and 16 March 2002, which called for further action to
improve the mastery of basic skills, in particular by teaching
two foreign languages to all from a very early age (3);

4. the Commission communication of 24 July 2003 ‘Promoting
Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan
2004-2006’ (4), and the subsequent Commission report of
25 September 2007 on the implementation of that Action
Plan (5);

5. Decision No 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 15 December 2004 on a single Com-
munity framework for the transparency of qualifications and
competences (Europass) (6);

6. the Commission communication of 22 November 2005
‘A new Framework Strategy for Multilingualism’, which encom-
passes both internal and external action on the promotion of
languages and communication with the citizens (7);

7. the Council conclusions of 19 May 2006 on the European
Indicator of Language Competence (8), which reaffirmed that
foreign language skills, as well as helping to foster mutual
understanding between peoples, are a prerequisite for a
mobile workforce and contribute to the competitiveness of
the European Union economy;

8. the Recommendation 2006/962/EC of

European
Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key
lifelong learning (9), one of which is
competences
communication in foreign languages;

the

for

(1) Doc. SN 100/00, paragraph 26, p. 9.
(2) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 13.
(3) Doc. SN 100/02, paragraph 44, p. 19.
(4) Doc. 11834/03.
(5) Doc. 13346/07.
(6) OJ L 390, 31.12.2004, p. 6.
(7) Doc. 14908/05.
(8) OJ C 172, 25.7.2006, p. 1.
(9) OJ L 394, 30.12.2006, p. 10.

CONSIDERS that:

— linguistic and cultural diversity are distinctive features in the
daily lives of an increasing number of European citizens and
companies as a result of increased mobility, migration and
globalisation,

— linguistic competences are a desirable life-skill for all EU citi-
zens, enabling them to enjoy the economic, social and
cultural benefits of free movement within the Union,

— successive reports and recommendations by various stake-
holder groups have shown that insufficient account is still
taken of language needs in European society,

— the importance attached to multilingualism and other
language policy issues in the context of common EU policies
imposes the need to pay these matters the attention they
deserve, as well as the need for the European institutions to
re-emphasise their long-standing commitment to the promo-
tion of language learning and linguistic diversity.

AFFIRMS that:

1. multilingualism policy encompasses the economic, social and
cultural aspects of languages in a lifelong learning perspec-
tive;

2. the linguistic diversity of Europe should be preserved and
parity between languages fully respected. The European
Union institutions should play a key role in pursuing these
objectives;

3. as well as contributing to personal and cultural enrichment,
a knowledge of languages is one of the basic skills European
citizens need to acquire in order to play an active part in the
European knowledge society, and one that both promotes
mobility and facilitates social integration and cohesion;

(10) OJ C 287, 29.11.2007, p. 1.

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 140/15

4. since language needs may vary according to each individual's
interests, work and cultural background,
the broadest
possible range of languages should be available to learners,
with the support of new technologies, innovative approaches
and networking between educational providers;

5. with a view to promoting economic growth and competitive-
ness, it is important for Europe also to maintain a sufficient
knowledge base in non-European languages with a global
reach. At the same time, efforts should be made to uphold
the position of European languages on the international
stage;

6. quality teaching is essential for successful learning at any age
and efforts should therefore be made to ensure that language
teachers have a solid command of the language they teach,
have access to high quality initial and continuous training
and possess the necessary intercultural skills. As part of
language teacher training, exchange programmes between
Member States should be actively encouraged and supported;

7. to help them integrate successfully, sufficient support should
be provided to migrants to enable them to learn the
language(s) of the host country, while members of the host
communities should be encouraged to show an interest in
the cultures of newcomers;

8.

linguistic and cultural competences lie at the heart of educa-
tion. Proficiency in the first
language may facilitate the
learning of other languages, while early language learning,
bilingual education and Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL) are effective means of improving language
learning provision;

communication

9. quality interpretation and translation is needed to ensure effi-
cient
different
between
languages, while greater attention should be paid to linguistic
considerations in the marketing and distribution of goods
and services, in particular audiovisual media services.

speakers

of

INVITES THE MEMBER STATES, WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE
COMMISSION, TO:

1. work together to enhance European cooperation on multilin-
gualism and — in consultation with the relevant stakeholders
— pursue the above-mentioned policy orientations, making
use as appropriate of the open method of coordination to
facilitate the exchange of experience and good practice;

2. take appropriate steps to improve effective language teaching
and continuity for language learning in a lifelong learning
perspective,
including by making existing resources and
infrastructure more widely available, accessible and attractive
to all, developing resources and increasing the diversity of
languages offered;

3. promote the learning of their national

Member States,
learning technologies, and encourage the learning of
widely used EU languages, and non-European languages;

languages in other
including through greater use of distance
less

4. use existing tools to confirm language knowledge, such as
the Council of Europe's European Language Portfolio and the
Europass Language Portfolio;

5. encourage measures to facilitate language learning by people
with special needs, as a means of contributing to their social
inclusion, better career opportunities and welfare;

6. cooperate with international organisations working on issues
the Council of

in particular

relating to multilingualism,
Europe and Unesco.

INVITES THE COMMISSION TO:

1. support the Member States in their efforts to pursue the

above priorities;

2. draw up proposals by the end of 2008 for a comprehensive
policy framework on multilingualism, which takes due
account of the linguistic needs of citizens and institutions,
including by respecting their right to communicate with the
institutions of the European Union in any one of its official
languages.