June

• 26.06.2007
  Dr. Hermann Kues: "The European Alliance for Families is a firm fixture in Europe". The Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Dr . Hermann Kues, today delivered a positive summary on the EU Council Presidency in his speeches to the European Parliament's Committees on Education and Culture, Women's Rights and Gender Equality and the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. "The objective of the German presidency is to improve living conditions for families. One of the positive milestones on the way to achieving this objective is the European Alliance for Families that the European Council decided to establish in March. We've put the issue firmly on the European agenda.
• 25.06.2007
  EU Research Ministers agreed in Luxemburg to launch the European Institute of Technology. The Research Ministers of the European Union adopted a comprehensive policy decision on the European Institute of Technology at the Competitiveness Council in Luxemburg on Monday. "By agreeing the general orientation of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) we have today taken an important step towards securing Europe's future," said Council President Annette Schavan, the German Research Minister, at the final press conference in Luxemburg. This may be seen as a result of the German Presidency and a "particular success at the conclusion" of the German Council Presidency, the Minister said.
• 18.06.2007
  Research Cooperation around the Mediterranean. Mobility between Germany and the Southern Mediterranean countries will in future be much easier for young students, teachers and researchers. Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan presented the possibility of funding under the European ERASMUS MUNDUS programme at a meeting of education and research ministers of the EU and the Mediterranean region in Kairo on Monday. Under this programme, €36 million will be available to encourage students, researchers and teachers to spend study periods in EU countries.
• 14.06.2007
  First Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research. The first Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research, will be held in Cairo on Monday 18th June 2007. The conference will be co-chaired by H.E. Dr. Hany Helal, Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research; H.E. Dr. Annette Schavan, German Minister of Education and Research, EU Presidency; and H.E. Dr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research. The conference will be held at the JW Marriott Hotel Cairo, Ring Road, Mirage City, Kattameya, and will be attended by representatives of the Ministries of Higher Education and Research of the members of the Euromediterranean Partnership (27 EU Member States and 10 Mediterranean partner countries).
• 05.06.2007
  Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan: "Winning the best researchers for Europe". "Our goal is to create the best conditions for excellent research in Europe", said Federal Research Minister Schavan on Tuesday when she opened the 4th European Conference on Research Infrastructures (ECRI2007) in Hamburg together with EU Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik. "Internationally competitive infrastructures are of central importance for excellent science. They are vital for increasing the attractiveness and global competitiveness of the European Research Area and for winning the best researchers for Europe".
• 05.06.2007
  Minister Schavan: “A milestone for scientists in Europe”. The signal has been given for the construction of the XFEL European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Project. High-ranking representatives from the partner states met in Hamburg on Tuesday at the invitation of Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan to announce the start of this worldwide unique research project. It is planned to start the first construction phase of the XFEL costing 850 million euro. Germany’s international partners will contribute at least 25 percent of this sum. The German contribution of up to 75 percent will be provided jointly by the Federal Government and the host Länder of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
• 04.06.2007
  Schavan: “We need a PISA study for vocational training in Europe“. At the opening of the European vocational training conference in Munich on Monday, Federal Minister of Education Annette Schavan proposed the introduction of international benchmarks for vocational training systems: “The results of the PISA assessment of general education levels triggered a considerable surge of reforms. A similar step is worth considering for vocational education and training, as well.” According to the minister’s plans, the ‘vocational training PISA’ would be designed to “determine people’s actual skills and abilities, rather than what qualification they acquired at what institution and how long it took”. This would enable a comparison of German non-academic vocational training qualifications with similar, academic degrees in other countries.
• 01.06.2007
  Diversity, Dialogue and Solidarity: the first Euro-Med Youth Parliament meets in Berlin. "Listening to one another and showing an interest in each other are the basic prerequisites for shared insights and ideas," said Günter Gloser, Minister of State for Europe, at the official opening of the first Euro-Med Youth Parliament in Berlin. Some 100 young people aged between 18 and 25 gathered today (1 June) in the Berlin House of Representatives. The session was chaired by four young people with a passion for politics from Egypt, Syria, Greece and Cyprus. Under the motto "Diversity, dialogue and solidarity", young people from the 27 EU Member States came together with contemporaries from 11 Mediterranean countries from the Barcelona Process to debate topical social issues.

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May

• 30.05.2007
  First Euro-Med Youth Parliament convenes in Berlin. The first Euro-Mediterranean Youth Parliament has been convening in Berlin since Saturday, 26 May. On the initiative of the German EU Presidency, more than 100 young people from all the European Union Member States have come together with contemporaries from 11 Mediterranean countries. The young parliamentarians are to discuss current social issues and will be trained as multipliers for Euro-Mediterranean dialogue through lectures given by experts, various cultural events and team-building sessions from 25 May to 2 June.
• 25.05.2007
  Von der Leyen: Equal opportunities for all young people is a prerequisite for a social Europe. By stepping up know-how transfer on good practices and introducing a European youth report the quality of life of young people in Europe. "Regular European-level reports will condense important information and knowledge about young Europeans and provide us with the basis for sustainable youth policy in Europe. We aim to provide fair opportunities to as many young people as possible," said the president-in-office of the Council, German Minister for Family Affairs, Ursula von der Leyen, during the adoption of Council conclusions on future youth policy cooperation in Europe at today's EU Youth Council meeting in Brussels.
• 24.05.2007
  EU Media Ministers reach agreement on EU Television without Frontiers Directive. The EU Ministers for Culture and the Media reached agreement today in Brussels on a Common Position regarding the revision of the EU Directive “Television without Frontiers”. Minister of State, Bernd Neumann, who has led the negotiations on behalf of Germany’s EU Council Presidency said: “This is an important day for television and the new audiovisual media services in Europe. By the new Directive, we will be creating a stable regulatory framework in Europe that will boost growth in this industry. The importance of public broadcasting is acknowledged. At the same time, the new Directive will secure key elements of our democratic society such as the protection of minors and human dignity, cultural wealth and the diversity of opinion and information - in all audiovisual media services."
• 24.05.2007
  New impetus for cultural industries: EU Ministers of Culture adopt Council conclusions. The European Ministers of Culture adopted “Conclusions on the contribution the cultural and creative sector makes towards implementing the goals of the Lisbon Strategy”. Minister of State Bernd Neumann, at whose initiative the conclusions were drawn up during Germany’s EU Council Presidency, said: “These conclusions will create a clear political framework and focal points for the future work of the European Member States and the Council in the area of the cultural industries. Just a few months after initiating the debate at the last Council of November 2006, we have managed to begin paving the way for policy-making in the field of the cultural industries.”
• 11.05.2007
  Leipzig Conference on European Media Policy: Experts call for value standards on the Internet. Friday, 11 May 2007, saw the close of the conference on European media policy "More trust in content" in Leipzig organised by the German EU Presidency in conjunction with the European Commission. At the experts’ conference, attended by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann, Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate and Chair of the Broadcasting Commission of the Laender Kurt Beck, and Dana Dunne, head of AOL Europe, 250 media experts from all EU Member States discussed questions concerning the security and trustworthiness of online offerings.
• 10.05.2007
  Minister of State Bernd Neumann: the culture of public communication must be preserved. Bernd Neumann, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and Minister-President Kurt Beck, Chair of the Broadcasting Commission of the Laender, opened a media conference today in Leipzig within the framework of the German EU presidency. The two-day conference deals with the subject of “More trust in content - the potential of co- and self-regulation in the digital media“.
• 07.05.2007
  Schavan: "A New Generation for Europe". The Lifelong Learning Programme has a duration of seven years and an overall budget of approximately seven billion euro – in Germany alone programme funds of about 100 million euro will be available each year. The aim is to give up to 80,000 trainees and young workers from all over Europe an opportunity to engage in qualification programmes outside their home country and prepare for the European labour market. For example, ERASMUS grants should help to double the number of young people studying in another European country: from currently 1.5 million to a total of 3 million in 2012. "A new generation of young people will determine the future of the European knowledge society", said Minister Schavan in Berlin on Monday.

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April

• 24.04.2007
  Europe – the blue star. Berlin is truly at the heart of Europe – and for one night only, on June 17, 2007, Berlin’s Konzerthaus will become a place of European luminosity to celebrate the finale of Germany’s EU presidency. The whole building will be wrapped in blue and yellow, sending out a message of European unity. And the audience will be able to experience our old and new European neighbours in a multitude of ways. A fanfare will open this day of European culture at 3 p.m. inviting Europeans from everywhere to Europe – the blue star to get to know their neighbours better.

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March

• 22.03.2007
  Exhibition "Visit(e)" opened in Brussels featuring works of art from the Federal Art Collection. Today (Thursday), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, Bernd Neumann, opened the exhibition "Visit(e)" at the Cultural Centre of the ING Bank. Under the auspices of Germany's EU presidency, the exhibition shows works by 39 German artists. The 236 works on show, which span four decades, are part of the contemporary art collection of the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 07.03.2007
  German Federal Research Minister Schavan: "A kind of European Nobel Prize". German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan presented the Descartes Prizes for Research and Science Communication together with EU Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik in Brussels on Wednesday. "These prizes are attracting increasing attention", said Schavan. "They have become a kind of European Nobel Prize". The Minister emphasized that excellence in research was important for making Europe the most competitive region within a few years. And she added: "We need outstanding young researchers today in order to produce the innovations of tomorrow".
• 05.03.2007
  The Earth as a Work of Art. On 7th March, the exhibition KUNSTWERK ERDE (The Earth as a Work of Art) is opening in Brussels. The exhibition, organised by the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, combines Art and Science in a series of stunning satellite images and takes viewers on an extraordinary world tour as seen through the eyes of scientific research.
• 02.03.2007
  Federal Minister of Education Annette Schavan: "Satisfying young children's thirst for knowledge". At their meeting in Heidelberg, education ministers from all over Europe spoke out in favour of improving early childhood education. "The pre-school period is at least as important as schooling itself", said Annette Schavan, the German Federal Education Minister. And she added: "We will make every effort in Europe to ensure that young children's thirst for knowledge can be satisfied". Within the framework of the German EU Council Presidency, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research had invited the European education ministers to a meeting in Heidelberg. Ministers from the 27 member states of the European Union as well as EU Education Commissioner Jan Figel' and representatives of another ten European countries came to Baden-Württemberg in South-West Germany.
• 01.03.2007
  Federal Minister of Education Annette Schavan: "Strengthening early childhood education in a targeted way". Today, Federal Minister Annette Schavan opened the informal meeting of European Education Ministers within the framework of the German EU Council Presidency. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has invited the Education Ministers of 27 EU Member States to Heidelberg to discuss questions of adult education and pre-primary education. The objective of the two-day conference is to continue the Europe-wide discussion on a common way of implementing lifelong learning.
• 26.02.2007
  German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan: "Research for Securing Citizens' Freedom". The development of civil security technologies is now a priority of research support in the European Union: The EU has earmarked a total of 1.4 billion euro for civil security research in the period 2007 to 2013. Security research is now firmly anchored in the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme. "In our technology-driven world, research for civil security is becoming increasingly important for securing the freedom of citizens in Europe", said the German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan in Berlin on Monday, when she opened the European Security Research Conference together with the EU Commissioners Günter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry) and Franco Frattini (Justice, Freedom and Security). "We must protect against the hazards of terrorism, crime and natural disasters and at the same time consolidate freedom and the rule of law", Schavan added.

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February

• 16.02.2007
  Annette Schavan, Federal Minister of Education and Research: "Education prepares citizens for the future". The Education Ministers of the European Union (EU) at their first meeting in Brussels under the German Council Presidency on Friday stressed the importance of education policy in Europe for a successful Lisbon reform process. The Ministers agreed that the objectives defined in the Lisbon strategy for more competitiveness and sustainable economic growth can only be achieved if the people in Europe receive an excellent education. This will be a decisive supplement to the project of spending three percent of GDP for research and development by the year 2010. Europe must become a knowledge society in order to be internationally competitive, the Ministers stressed. Education will play a key role in this process.
• 13.02.2007
  Minister of State Bernd Neumann stresses importance of a common strategy to strengthen cultural industries. On behalf of the German EU Presidency, Minister of State Bernd Neumann, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, invited the EU ministers responsible for culture and the media to an informal two-day meeting in Berlin. After making good headway on Monday towards modernizing the Television without Frontiers Directive, the ministers’ discussion today focused on cultural industries. The ministers agreed on a series of proposals presented by Minister of State Neumann for a future strategy to promote cultural industries in the coming years. Minister of State Neumann stressed, “The ministers of culture in Europe are called upon to agree on a common strategy for developing cultural industries, which are a significant engine of growth in Europe. Cultural industries already employ more people than the automobile industry and are growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy.”
• 12.02.2007
  Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Bernd Neumann: Modernizing the EU’s Television without Frontiers Directive is essential for the further development of the European media market. At the invitation of Minister of State Bernd Neumann, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the EU ministers of culture and the media arrived in Berlin today for an informal two-day meeting on the margins of the 2007 Berlinale International Film Festival. Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media, and the EU ministers responsible for culture today discussed the modernization of the EU Television without Frontiers Directive. Minister of State Neumann stated, “The Television without Frontiers Directive is the centrepiece of European legislation in the audiovisual sector.
• 08.02.2007
  Invitation to the Informal Meeting of Ministers for Culture and the Media on 12 and 13 February 2007 in Berlin. Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann has invited the Ministers for Culture and the Media of the EU Member States to an Informal Council Meeting in Berlin on Monday, 12 February and Tuesday, 13 February 2007. Key items on the agenda will be the modernisation of the EU Television Directive on the first day and the promotion of culture sector on the second day. In addition, the ministers will take part in the award ceremony for the European Shooting Stars at the Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale.

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January

• 30.01.2007
  Minister of State for Culture Bernd Neumann presents the EU Presidency's programme to the Culture Committee of the European Parliament.
• 22.01.2007
  Federal Minister Steinmeier opens Charlemagne Prize exhibition in Brussels. Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is in Brussels for a General Affairs Council meeting, today opens an exhibition on "The International Charlemagne Prize of the City of Aachen" in the Council's Justus Lipsius building. On display are portraits of the 48 people who have been awarded the prize from 1950 to 2006, including the founding fathers of Europe and personalities who have played a key part in promoting European unity such as Alcide de Gasperi (1952), Jean Monnet (1953) and Konrad Adenauer (1954), continuing through to present-day laureates like Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (2003), Patrick Cox/Pope John Paul II (2004), Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (2005) and Jean-Claude Juncker (2006).
• 16.01.2007
  „More Light!“ by Anny und Sibel Öztürk. During the German presidency of the EU Council, the centre of the EU quarter in Brussels, the Rond-Point Schuman, will be turned into a “work of art.” The Goethe-Institut and the Foreign Ministry have decided to bring “More Light!” to Brussels by selecting the proposal by Anny and Sibel Öztürk. Born in 1970 and 1975, these Turkish-German artists grew up in the vicinity of Frankfurt am Main and graduated from the “Städelschule” [School of Fine Arts] in Frankfurt. With this installation, the acoustic activities at the Rond-Point Schuman will be translated by microphones into a spectacular choreography of light.
• 16.01.2007
  Press Conference and photo opportunity prior to the opening of the interactive light sculpture in Brussels. As part of the cultural programme of the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the interactive light sculpture MORE LIGHT! by Anny and Sibel Öztürk will be opened on the Rond-point Schuman on the evening of 18 January 2007. We would like to invite you to a press conference before this opening.
• 09.01.2007
  Minister of State for Cultural Affairs Bernd Neumann attends meeting with EU Commissioners: positions on the EU Television without Frontiers Directive converging. To mark the start of the German EU Presidency, the EU Commissioners and the members of the German Cabinet from the cultural, educational and scientific spheres met today in Berlin for talks.

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