On 26 April, Androulla Vassiliou, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, held an exchange of views with the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) of the Committee for Culture and Education (CULT). It was her first meeting with this Committee since she took office early in 2010. The discussions concerned the topics that fall under Ms Vassiliou’s responsibility, including multilingualism, culture, and creative industries.
At the meeting, several MEPs such as Katarina Nevedalova (S&D, SK), Mary Honeyball (S&D, UK) and Malika Benarab-Attou (Greens/EFA, FR) asked how the Commissioner plans to develop multilingualism in the next few years and enhance its social value. Mrs Vassiliou emphasised that the 600 languages spoken in the EU are not only a tool but also a part of our richness that should be preserved. For this reason, she wants to encourage Member States and regions to offer language courses and promote linguistic diversity through EU programmes, notably by promoting the use of structural and social funds for multilingualism.
As to the issue of EU funding for literary translation which is currently not available for most regional and minority languages in the EU, the Commissioner declared that she plans to provide support to mobility projects for literary translators during her mandate. In her view, multilingualism is not only about helping people to learn more languages but is also about improving communication between citizens and increasing employment opportunities.