May 22nd 2008 - European Training Foundation

Delivered by Derek Clark on 22 May 2008

Speech to Parliament Strasbourg May 22nd 2008 Debate; European Training Foundation Once again the Commission is attempting to get ahead of legislation.

The EU has no competence over education, at least until the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and that depends on the Irish referendum. Is the result of that a foregone conclusion, or will a "No" vote there just be swept aside like the "No" votes in the French and Dutch referendums? In any case what kind of structure will this Training Foundation have? I see there are proposals for it to be run variously by; six representatives from member states plus six from the Commission and Parliament only three, or plus representatives from partner countries appointed by the Commission.

In the latter case responsibility would partly be in the hands of countries which are not member states, giving the unelected Commission the major say. Hardly democratic. Amendment 7 suggests that the Commission would submit candidates for the Directorship of the ETF and I note that this causes concern in many quarters. This has resulted in further suggestions as to the make-up of the ETF board, right up to an unworkable one representative per member state. To have so many counter suggestions for the composition of the Board of the ETF is not exactly the best of starts but that begs the question why does anyone think we need such a foundation? I argue that such a Training Foundation is not only unnecessary; it will be counter productive. If you care to look round the countries of Europe, as opposed to the EU, you will find training programs of all sorts scattered around.

They are of different standards but, between them they develop many skills, which is why Europe has such a rich heritage. You see, each country has always produced its artists, composers, authors and so on. Even the small countries come up with, for example, composers of world renown. Each country produces its leaders and experts, its technicians, bankers, sportsmen and women and all the rest of the range of skills that are enhanced by training.

So there is a multiplicity of skills with each country contributing in its own way. If you try to put all that together in a "European Training Foundation" it will drain the life out of the training schemes in various countries. A single ETF will not have the intrinsic qualities of national flavour. We need variety, not a harmonised one track theme.

In short, we will lose more than we gain in such a scheme. Please forget it and let the countries of Europe make their contributions to the whole. This might even generate enthusiasm for the EU project, for that is sadly lacking judging by the No votes of two founding states and the continuous efforts being made to sell the EU to its peoples.

Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg May 22nd 2008