The need to support local and regional media companies to ensure a strong democracy as well as for policies to identify regional education needs were the key issues discussed during a SEDEC Commission meeting.
Media in the Digital Decade: An Action Plan
Jan Trei, Member of Viimsi Rural Municipality Council, presented his own-initiative opinion on digital media. He said that local news media plays an important role in public life and political debate as they promote political knowledge and participation. He described independent local news media as the backbone of democracy in society.
In his remarks Trei said "The COVID-19 crisis highlights very clearly the need for strong press as an institution which informs society with balanced fact-based information and enables open debate. At the same time, the economic recession caused by the crisis has endangered the ability of the media to play a responsible role. In order to maintain the strong, high-quality press at all levels, support measures are needed, in particular to ensure the survival of local and regional media companies. Particular attention must be paid to the situation of small countries, where, due to the small size of the market, the resources for local and regional media to exist are limited, and this is particularly critical."
Achieving the European Education Area by 2025
During the SEDEC Commission, Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca and the European Committee of the Regions Rapporteur on 'Achieving the European Education Area by 2025' presented his opinion and discussed proposals with members.
His opinion outlines that LRAs are responsible for implementing 70% of EU legislation and hence the regional and local levels must be taken into account in the plan alongside the European and national levels. It also stresses that the strategic objectives of the European Education Area need to be matched with clear, identifiable financial resources available to LRAs.
Boc emphasized the need to identify regional education needs and promote specific policies that take account of local circumstances as well as to develop mechanisms that will enable LRAs to exchange and learn from local good practices in other EU communities.
The opinion draws attention to the need to reduce current education disparities between rural and urban areas. In his opinion, Boc reiterated the need to make the teaching profession more attractive (including in financial terms) and to provide training for teachers.
”The European Education Area is the key for better jobs, that will also be better paid in EU. It is the key to diminishing intolerance, improving acceptance, strengthening the European Identity. It will make Europe stronger from a bottom-up perspective and in the end, European Education Area is the key for a better democracy in the entire European Union" added Emil Boc.
During the meeting Boc also spoke about the Joint Action Plan between SEDEC, DG R&I and the Joint Research Centre (JRC). He explained that due to the COVID-19 crisis students were facing challenges such as access to eLearning. He explained that mapping of educational inequalities will be one of the new projects that the Joint Action Plan will work on. In terms of indicators the project will look into access to infrastructure concerning schools, access to teachers including their training for digital matters and connectivity, in particular broadband and availability of software.
Debate on Experiences and lessons learned by regions and cities during the COVID-19 crisis
Member held a debate with Joke Schauvliege, Member of the Flemish Parliament and European Committee of the Regions Rapporteur for the Opinion on Experiences and lessons learned by regions and cities during the COVID-19 crisis. Schauvliege said that the COVID-19 crisis is still very much determining lives of citizens. She called for further EU cooperation. "This crisis has created several consequences at personal and professional level (families apart, lack of work, education, low economy). The cooperation during such crises is the key to solve the problems of the most affected sectors."