Training, education: teaching and learning, towards the learning society. White Paper

In this light, the ESC regards the development and modernization of education and training as a necessary precondition for the fuller development of the economic, social and cultural life of the European Union. It also compares the political will and declarations in favour of growth, competitiveness and employment with the level of investment for those purposes, which should be proportional. In conclusion, the ESC would stress the following as regards the aims and actions proposed in the White Paper on building the learning society: - it regards the five objectives set by the White Paper as key aims for building the learning society; however, it stresses that at least one more central aim should be added to these: that of the humanist dimension of the learning society; - it regards the relevant proposed actions at European level as important - but ineffectual if they are not accompanied by specific financial allocation; - at all events, the ESC regards the White Paper on education and training as a positive and important contribution by the Commission to the future of the European Union. The various forces weaving and interweaving in the construction of the European Union and of the learning society will determine in future whether the White Paper becomes a point of reference for the aspirations of today's European citizens, but also a document corresponding to the expectations of the new world which technological and scientific developments, the information society and the internationalization of the economy are building day by day.�