From 14 to 17 March the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning organised different events on the issue of Lifelong learning in the European Parliament. Part of the programme was a round table discussion with experts in adult education issues: Four members of the European Parliament met to discuss the social dimension of education and training with stakeholders from the education sector.

Maria Badia I Cutchet (S&D) hosted the Round Table and opened the event by stating that austerity measures on education and training are counter-productive to EU policies like the Europe 2020 Strategy. She stressed the development of human capital as the key to the success of the Europe 2020 Agenda.

The discussion was prepared by presentations from different EU member states: Practitioners from France, Latvia and Ireland reported about the impact of national austerity measures on education and lifelong learning and informed about the reality in the member states. After that the MEPs had the opportunity to respond to the practitioner’s inputs. Doris Pack (EPP) addressed the problem of financing lifelong learning. She offered a “helping hand” but also pointed out that the EU has no competence in education issues - therefore the money for the EU funding programmes has to be provided by the member states. She also defined the long-term results of education as part of the problem. Doris Pack praised the Youth on the Move initiative but stressed that EU politics should no forget elder people as they represent an important part of the population. She concluded with calling for support on national level and invited the participants to continue lobbying for lifelong learning.

MEP Elisabeth Schroedter (Greens-EFA) stressed the need for investing in education otherwise the EU will loose its leadership. She identified medium skilled people as the target group with the most potential and called for better qualification of this group. Mary Honeyball (S&D) backed this position; in order to compete with India and China Europe should develop its knowledge society and invest in a well-educated workforce to maintain Europe’s position. For this reason, education should be at the core of public funding. In her response, the French MEP Marie-Christine Vergiat (GUE/NGL) concentrated on the impact of austerity measures in France and stated that the discussion about financing lifelong learning is contradictory to the mobility announced in the recent initiatives. Participants also heard contributions from Jeff Bridgford (ETUC) and Gyula Hegyi (European Commission, Cabinet of Commissioner Laszlo Andor).

Precarious situation

In her conclusions Gina Ebner, President of EUCIS-LLL specified one clear challenge for lifelong learning in Europe, the cuts in public funding that lead to a precarious situation. She emphasized the contribution lifelong learning can make on different levels: society level, citizenship personal development. She is also convinced that lifelong learning can impart knowledge on how to deal with the crisis.

Although the MEPs could not dispel the participant’s concerns about the future funding of lifelong learning in the European Union, they promised to back the efforts on national level.

EUCIS-LLL now hopes to setup an informal network with members of the European Parliament on lifelong learning issues like access to lifelong learning for all, improving financing mechanisms and more flexibility between lieflong learning sub-sectors.