Dr. Tibor Navracsics:

I thank the Chairman and the honourable Members of the Oireachtas. I am very honoured to speak to the committee which I congratulate on its deep engagement on the future of Europe. I understand it has carried out extensive public consultation on this important topic and look forward to hearing some of its insights during our discussion.

Education and culture are high on the political agenda in the European Union. At the recent social summit in Gothenburg, Sweden, Europe’s political leaders held an exchange of views on education and culture. I am proud that the debate built on an ambitious vision set out by the European Commission. In our policy document, our communication on Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture, we set out our ambition for a Europe capable of harnessing the full potential of education and culture, to build resilience, promote social fairness and active citizenship and strengthen European identity in all its diversity. We want to work towards a Europe where learning, studying and conducting research will not be blocked by borders, where skilled and independent citizens will find or create fulfilling jobs, contribute to growth and innovation and feel empowered to shape communities and where people will share a strong sense of European identity and feel connected to our common cultural heritage.

What does this mean in practice? The communication calls for a European education area enabling the mutual recognition of higher education and school-leaving diplomas and study periods abroad. It suggests we improve co-operation between universities and the mobility of students with the support of an EU student card. It proposes steps to help member states boost the levels of skills, including basic skills, language skills and digital and entrepreneurial skills, as well as transversal skills and competences, and to promote lifelong learning. All of this, whether it is mobility and recognition, skills development or support for teachers and educators, needs to be based on solid funding. Hence, the communication recognises that to reach these goals, the future Erasmus+ programme will need to be substantially bigger than the current one. It also reaffirms the European Union’s commitment to safeguarding our common values and cultural heritage with continued support for the cultural and creative sectors. We want to develop a strong European agenda for culture to help us to uphold European identity and diversity. All children and young people should have the opportunity to realise their full potential and positively contribute to society. However, the reality shows that the talents of millions of young people are lost each year. Poorer students are three times more likely to be low performers than their wealthier peers. We all need to do more to overcome these challenges and the European Union is willing to play its part. I am pleased to announce that I will be hosting the first European education summit in Brussels on 25 January 2018 to follow up on the ambitions we have set out. The summit will bring together Ministers, academics, stakeholders and civil society representatives in order to work towards a high-level political consensus on tackling inequality in and through education. We must join forces to address underachievement in basic skills, to make education systems more inclusive and ensure they will benefit from smart investment. We must develop a clear picture of what skills are needed for the decades to come.

I count on the active participation of Irish authorities and Ireland has plenty of experiences to share. In the past decade this country has undertaken unprecedented national efforts to modernise its education sector, despite going through a very difficult period. During the recent economic crisis and the subsequent structural adjustment it sheltered education from major and far-reaching fiscal consolidation measures. Ireland has also greatly improved in providing basic skills and combating early school leaving and inequalities, as well as in promoting participation in pre-school education. It is one of the leading countries in Europe in tertiary attainment and has put forward a set of fairly ambitious goals for the future. It is investing in education with a new impetus in terms of public spending in the sector and a very promising 2018 budget for education and training. It also intends to focus more on educational infrastructure and higher capital expenditure, in particular with a view to attracting talent from elsewhere in Europe and the rest of the world. However, a number of challenges remain. They include the inclusion of disadvantaged students, the affordability of and access to child care, the long-term financial sustainability of third level education and the ongoing reform of the further education and training sector. The European Commission stands ready to help Irish authorities in their efforts to make Ireland's education system one of the best in Europe.

In the field of youth the European Commission is preparing a review of the EU youth strategy, the framework for youth policy co-operation. The proposals we will outline before the summer will be based on young people's and youth stakeholders' input, as well as on the evaluation of the current strategy. One priority is already clear for me: we need to reach out to many more young people to make sure our youth will have opportunities to engage and be heard in the democratic process, no matter where they are or what their background is.

Another youth-related matter that has been high on our agenda this year is the European Solidarity Corps. Since its launch, more than 43,000 young people have registered, showing their enthusiasm for solidarity and a willingness to volunteer or work to support others. I expect the corps to get its own legal basis and budget next year following the agreement of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

Throughout 2017 we celebrated the 30th anniversary of Erasmus, a unique programme which has given 9 million people, among them tens of thousands of Irish people, the opportunity to study, train, teach and volunteer abroad, providing them with the skills and outlook needed to thrive in life. With more than 900 events and a huge involvement in social media and the press, the campaign reached more than 90 million European citizens, well beyond those already benefiting from the programme. This year was also an opportunity to take stock and develop a common vision for the future of the programme. My priority is to reach out to many more people from a wider range of backgrounds. I also want to strengthen the mobility of school pupils, for example. As I said at the beginning, if the future Erasmus+ is going to support our political objectives effectively, it will need to be beefed up. The President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Parliament, Mr. Antonio Tajani, have called for a substantial budget increase to make sure the future programme will be nine times more ambitious. During the final EU-level event of the 30th anniversary campaign in Brussels the Erasmus+ generation declaration was presented. The declaration contains 30 recommendations from the community of those who have benefited from the programme on how to make Erasmus+ a bigger programme, with a bigger impact on the future of Europe.

In the area of sport we focus on promoting physical activity and grassroots sport. The third edition of the European Week of Sport which took place in September attracted 12 million participants. With its first edition having taken place only three years ago, I am pleased to see how much the idea has spread and how fast it has been adopted by member states and the sport family. This year, together with my fellow Commissioners Phil Hogan who is in charge of agriculture and Vytenis Andriukaitis who is responsible for health, I launched a new initiative to promote healthy lifestyles across policy areas such as sport, education, food marketing, innovation and research. Sport is very much about joy and physical well-being, but it also has a bigger role because it helps to build communities.

It is something I saw in Ireland first-hand when I met with leaders of the GAA in Croke Park and attended an All-Ireland hurling final just over two years ago. To highlight the role of sport in communities, I launched the #BeInclusive EU sport awards which recognises organisations using sport to increase social inclusion for disadvantaged groups. I was honoured to hand out the first awards at the end of November.

We have just launched the European year of cultural heritage. I want to place children and young people at the heart of this initiative. By encouraging them to discover and engage with Europe’s cultural heritage through a wide range of activities and programmes we can enable them to become guardians of our cultural heritage and to use it to build the Europe of tomorrow. That is why the educational value of cultural heritage will be emphasised throughout the year. The European year of cultural heritage is not a Brussels event, far from it. We want people to explore and connect with heritage close to where they are. That is why we will see a series of initiatives and events at European, national, regional and local levels. At national level, the year is managed by national co-ordinators appointed by all 28 member states and I am pleased to say Ireland is enthusiastically represented by the Heritage Council. I heard quite a bit about what is planned in Ireland throughout the year. This morning, I attended the Creative Ireland forum where I launched the European year of cultural heritage in this country. I trust that Ireland will make a success of the year.

Deep structural changes are affecting our societies and economies at a time when many people also cope with the breakdown of social connections and families. The policy fields I am responsible for, education, culture, youth and sport, have a crucial role in creating the resilience we need to overcome these challenges. They can empower people, enabling them to lead independent, fulfilling lives and build inclusive, fair societies. It is therefore heartening to see these policy areas at the top of Europe's political agenda. Let us work together to ensure they stay there.