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Culture Policy in the EU

Latest business news about culture policy in the European Union.

Commission Communication on Multilingualism: tapping the full potential of languages in Europe 18 September 2008, 13:50 CET
In its new Communication, entitled "Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment", the Commission gives an overview of what needs to be done to turn linguistic diversity into an asset for solidarity and prosperity. The Commission invites EU Member States and the other EU Institutions to join efforts to encourage and assist citizens in acquiring language skills and removing communication barriers. It proposes an approach which advocates including multilingualism across a whole series of EU policy areas. The policy document proposes a series of concrete actions related to these questions and foresees a review of the progress made in 2012 (pdf)

Marseille European Capital of Culture for France in 2013 18 September 2008, 13:46 CET
The jury responsible for assessing the applications for the title of "European Capital of Culture 2013", which met on16 September in Paris recommends that the title be bestowed on Marseille for France. Four cities were still in contention after the preselection meeting last December: Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille and Toulouse. The choice of Marseille should be formally endorsed by the Council of Ministers of the European Union in May 2009.

UEFA rule on 'home-grown players': compatibility with EU rules 29 May 2008, 16:22 CET
The European Commission has published an independent study on the ‘home-grown players’ rule adopted by UEFA. This rule requires clubs participating in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup to have a minimum number of ‘home-grown players’ in their squads. Compared with the '6+5' plan proposed by FIFA, which is incompatible with EU law, the Commission considers that UEFA has opted for an approach which seems to comply with the principle of free movement of workers while promoting the training of young European players. The Commission also notes that the measures are designed to support the promotion and protection of quality training for young footballers in the EU. This study had been announced in the White Paper on Sport in July 2007.

Europa languages portal 25 January 2008, 13:06 CET
This portal is your point of entry to information about languages from the European Union - Linguistic Diversity - Language Learning - Language Teaching - Translation - Interpretation - Language Technology

Languages in the EU website 25 January 2008, 13:01 CET
Listen to all the 23 official languages of the European Union - i.e. the ones used for EU business. On this site you can hear examples spoken by interpreters from the EU institutions.

DGT-TM - DGT Multilingual Translation Memory of the Acquis Communautaire 20 January 2008, 15:24 CET
The European Commission's is making its collection of about 1 million sentences and their high quality translations in 22 of the 23 official EU languages freely available. This kind of data is highly sought after by developers of machine translation systems in which automatic translation software "learns" from manually translated texts how words and phrases are correctly and contextually translated. The data can also help the development of other linguistic software tools such as grammar and spell checkers, online dictionaries and multilingual text classification systems.

European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008) 04 January 2008, 17:59 CET
The European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID) 2008 recognises that Europe’s great cultural diversity represents a unique advantage. It will encourage all those living in Europe to explore the benefits of our rich cultural heritage and opportunities to learn from different cultural traditions.

European Digital Library - guide 29 November 2007, 01:21 CET
A high level group on digital libraries met European Commission officials in Brussels on 27 November 2007 to discuss progress towards launching the European digital library. A European digital library foundation has recently been created. This formalises the agreement of European archives, museums, audiovisual archives and libraries to work together and to provide a common access point to Europe's cultural heritage online.

Report on the implementation of the Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006" 27 September 2007, 23:35 CET
The EU Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006" called for a progress review in 2007. A European Commission Working Paper reporting on its implementation was adopted on 25 September 2007. This report outlines the main results of the implementation of the Action Plan "Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity 2004-2006", both at European and national level. It highlights current trends in the reform of educational systems to better promote language learning, takes stock of what has been achieved in the past three years and provides a basis for further action in the field of multilingualism policy.

European Day of Languages 2007 27 September 2007, 15:30 CET
At the end of the hugely successful 2001 European Year of Languages, jointly organised by the Council of Europe and the European Commission, it was decided that 26 September each year should be the European Day of Languages, to celebrate the rich heritage of cultures and traditions embodied in all the languages of Europe – and not only the 23 official languages of the EU.

EU and Youth Policies - Frequently Asked Questions 25 November 2010, 11:44 CET
As Europe's population grows older faster and the pool of young workers shrinks, the EU will rely more and more on its younger generation. According to a Commission analysis presented on 5 September 2007, young people are often insufficiently prepared to take on this responsibility. One in six young Europeans still leaves school early and 4.6 million 15-24 year-olds are unemployed. The document highlights the need, at EU and national level, to invest more and earlier in youth education and health and to improve transitions from education into work. It also stresses the importance of involving young people more in civic life, as well as in society as a whole.

EU Tube 03 July 2007, 17:31 CET
The European Commission has launched a dedicated channel on YouTube to make its audiovisual material more widely available to the public. "This initiative reflects the Commission's commitment to better explain its policies and actions on issues which concern citizens across the EU – such as climate change, energy or immigration" said Margot Wallstroem, Vice-President for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy.

EU terminology translator 28 June 2007, 12:23 CET
A one-stop shop for EU-related terminology (InterActiveTerminology for Europe) in 23 languages opened to the public on 28 June 2007. The InterActive Terminology for Europe database, known as IATE, combines the terminology databases of the individual EU institutions and bodies in a single database containing 8.7 million terms and covering all 23 official EU languages. IATE ,which has been in use by the translation services of the EU institutions since 2005, already plays a major role in ensuring the quality of the written communication of the EU institutions and bodies. Offering easy access to validated EU-related terminology, it ensures the consistency and reliability of terminology which is indispensable for producing the clear and unambiguous texts necessary for guaranteeing both the validity and transparency of the legislative process and effective communication with the citizens of the Union.

Communication on a European agenda for culture in a globalizing world 10 May 2007, 23:04 CET
The main purpose of the Communication is to see both what Europe can do for culture and what culture can do for Europe , with two main sets of objectives in mind: developing active European citizenship, respecting cultural diversity, promoting intercultural dialogue, while fostering a sense of 'European identity' complementary to other identities; the economic and social objectives of the Lisbon agenda, and the role of creativity in enhancing the competitive edge of Europe. (Culture and Creativity to Make Lisbon Work, states European Council - 9 March 2007).

Culture & the European Union - Frequently asked questions 10 May 2007, 17:22 CET
On 10 May 2007, the European Commission adopted a Communication entitled "A European agenda for culture in a globalizing world". Whilst the Communication is not the first in the field of culture, this is the first time the Commission has proposed a common European strategy for culture in the EU.

PLOTEUS Learning Opportunities portal 25 November 2010, 11:44 CET
PLOTEUS (Portal on Learning Opportunities throughout the European Space) aims to help students, job seekers, workers, parents, guidance counsellors and teachers to find out information about studying in Europe.

Eurydice 08 August 2006, 11:40 CET
Information Network on Education in Europe includes a searchable database of all the EU's education programmes. Eurydice is committed, first and foremost, to offering policy-makers and all those involved in the provision of education with information and studies geared to their needs. The Network boosts European cooperation in education by developing exchanges of information about systems and policies and producing studies on issues common to education systems.

IATE - Inter-Active Terminology for Europe 16 September 2014, 22:43 CET
IATE (="Inter-Active Terminology for Europe") is the EU's inter-institutional terminology database. IATE has been used in the EU institutions and agencies since summer 2004 for the collection, dissemination and shared management of EU-specific terminology. The project was launched in 1999 with the objective of providing a web-based infrastructure for all EU terminology resources, enhancing the availability and standardisation of the information. IATE incorporates all of the existing terminology databases of the EU’s translation services into a single new, highly interactive and accessible inter-institutional database.

European Culture portal 07 August 2006, 12:35 CET
Since its inclusion in the Treaty on the European Union, cultural cooperation has become a new community competency. The European Commission Culture site is aimed mainly at European cultural operators who want to set up cooperation projects with other European partners. Information on the numerous other EU policies for the promotion of culture is available on the European Culture Portal.

European Capitals of Culture 18 August 2020, 23:45 CET
The European Capitals of Culture initiative is designed to: Highlight the richness and diversity of cultures in Europe; Celebrate the cultural features Europeans share; Increase European citizens' sense of belonging to a common cultural area; Foster the contribution of culture to the development of cities. In addition to this, experience has shown that the event is an excellent opportunity for: Regenerating cities; Raising the international profile of cities; Enhancing the image of cities in the eyes of their own inhabitants; Breathing new life into a city's culture; Boosting tourism

Copyright and neighbouring rights in the EU Internal Market 05 August 2006, 22:40 CET
There has been significant harmonisation of the substantive copyright law in the European Union to reduce barriers to trade and to adjust the framework to new forms of exploitation. Common ground is also needed with respect to the rules on the enforcement of rights, i.e. on access to justice, sanctions and remedies regarding infringements. In order to grasp the full potential of marketing intellectual property rights in the Internal Market, the EU Commission believes that complementary measures on the management and licensing of these rights may also prove necessary. The Internal Market DG's task is to enforce the "acquis" on copyright and related rights; to advance it further and to modernise and adapt it to new developments in technology or the markets concerned as this is an evolving scenario.

Translation Directorate-General of the European Commission 05 August 2006, 22:12 CET
The European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation is the largest translation service in the world. Located in Brussels and Luxembourg, it has a permanent staff of some 1 650 linguists and 550 support staff, and also uses freelance translators all over the world. Known as the DGT after its English initials, the service translates written text into and out of all the EU's official languages, exclusively for the European Commission. Interpretation of the spoken word is the responsibility of the Commission's Directorate-General for Interpretation.

Languages of Europe 05 August 2006, 22:09 CET
Official languages of Europe statistics: The official EU languages; Policy issues; Awareness raising; Language teaching; Language learning; EU funding opportunities; Key documents; Useful links

European Culture Portal 05 August 2006, 21:57 CET
There are many EU policies for the promotion of culture: subsidy programmes, regulations, etc. The Commission's European Culture Portal provides information on these policies and directs you to specialised sites where you can find more detailed information, such as the Culture site, which specialises in aid for cultural cooperation in Europe. The Portal also includes links to the sites of the national authorities responsible for culture in Europe.