MINUTES of the meeting of 5 November 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia

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1 EURONEST PARLIAMTARY ASSEMBLY ASSEMBLÉE PARLEMTAIRE EURONEST PARLAMTARISCHE VERSAMMLUNG EURONEST ПАРЛАМЕНТСКАЯ AССАМБЛЕЯ ЕВРОНЕСТ Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society NEST_PV(2015)1105 MINUTES of the meeting of 5 November 2015, Tbilisi, Georgia The meeting was opened at by the Co-Chairs, Agnieszka KOZLOWSKARAJEWICZ (EP) and Artak ZAKARYAN (Armenia), after an introductory welcome from the Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly (PA)and Head of the Georgian Delegation thereto, Victor DOLIDZE, and the Chair of the European Integration Committee of the Parliament of Georgia (TBC), Levan BERDZISHVILI. 1. Adoption of draft agenda The draft agenda was adopted without any changes. 2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting of the Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society held on 16 March 2015 in Yerevan, Armenia The draft minutes were adopted without any changes. 3. Opening statement by Co-Chairs Agnieszka KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (Poland, EPP) and Artak ZAKARYAN MP, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Armenian Parliament and Head of the Armenian Delegation to the Euronest PA Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) welcomed the guests, congratulated Mr DOLIDZE (Georgia) on taking up the position of Co-President of the Euronest PA and thanked him for taking the initiative of hosting the meeting. This demonstrated that the Euronest PA was a PV\ doc

2 truly joint project, co-owned by both the European and the Eastern partner components. As Armenia had hosted the previous plenary proceedings of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, the next plenary session in an Eastern Partnership (EaP) country would be in Ukraine, in 2017; the primary purpose of the present meeting would therefore be to continue with parliamentary work ahead of the plenary session to be held in Brussels in mid-march Mr ZAKARYAN (Armenia) also welcomed guests and colleagues, adding that the Georgian delegation, a partner delegation, was one of the founders of, and most active participants in, the Euronest PA. 3. Announcements by the Co-Chairs Mr ZAKARYAN (Armenia) reflected on Euronest-related developments. After the Vilnius Summit, Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova had proceeded with signing Association Agreements with the EU, whereas Armenia had had to abstain; nonetheless, Armenia s resolve to continue its cooperation with the EU on matters of mutual interest was steadfast. As a fully fledged member state of the Eurasian Economic Union, Armenia was ready to start new negotiations with the EU; a conference could be organised in order to examine all aspects of this new cooperation model. While Azerbaijan had chosen a different path, there was still hope that it would eventually return to the Euronest PA. 4. Post-Riga developments regarding EaP-EU cooperation in the fields of culture, civil society and education Mr ZAKARYAN (Armenia) said that these aspects had already been addressed in the Riga Summit Declaration, providing a sound basis for upcoming cooperation. Mr DOLIDZE (Georgia) highlighted the new developments following the Riga Summit, particularly vis-à-vis Georgia. One such development was the Visa Liberalisation Action Plan, which was progressing well. Overall the Riga Summit had been a success, since the mutual obligations under the EaP remained in force. He also expressed his regret that Azerbaijan had temporarily suspended cooperation with the EU, including participation in the Euronest PA. Ongoing efforts were being made to keep communication channels open and offer more opportunities for Europeanisation. The EaP was an important tool which provided an element of unity. Vitaly KORCHIK MP (Ukraine) said that parliamentary work ought to concentrate on the future, and that from that point of view education was paramount, particularly for young people; what was needed was to ensure that young people received a European education. At the same time, it was important to ensure visa liberalisation and a visa-free regime, as 2/7 PV\ doc

3 freedom of movement was one of the EU s most important values. Guguli MAGRADZE MP (Georgia) noted that the Riga Summit had been held in difficult conditions; one of the key issues to be discussed in the future would be how to ensure that Belarus acquired a European orientation. The Riga Summit was nonetheless important for Georgia because of new avenues being opened up, particularly in terms of visa liberalisation, cultural heritage protection and education. Ms Magradze stressed the importance of developing a knowledge-based economy which would ensure the high level of education necessary to foster Georgia s European integration. Gia JORJOLIANI MP (Georgia) said that, as would be seen on 18 November 2015, Georgia was looking forward to promoting new neighbourhood policy orientations; after the Riga Summit, serious changes would have to be implemented in respect of neighbourhood policy on account of new circumstances. In the case of Georgia, efforts would have to be redoubled after the entry into force of the Association Agreement, particularly in the field of higher education and with a view to giving a positive impetus for economic development. Mr ZAKARYAN (Armenia) said that the EU and the EaP remained one of Armenia s main priorities as regards the development of internal policy, the political system, democratic processes and culture. 5. Draft report on cooperation between EU and EaP countries regarding mutual recognition of professional qualifications, work experience and university diplomas as part of the Bologna Process: initial exchange of views Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) said that the mutual recognition of professional qualifications was a very important factor for labour market development and for the individual lives of EU and EaP citizens. Mr Valentinas MAZURONIS (EP) presented the draft report on behalf of rapporteur Norica Nicolai and explained its key elements. The Bologna Process was about voluntary convergence and coordinated reform of higher education systems, based on public responsibility for higher education, academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The report also focused on mutual recognition between EU and EaP countries of the higher planning diploma for students. Their main goal was to facilitate more and deeper academic cooperation. Investing more in higher education would further consolidate trust and credibility among national authorities, universities and young people on both sides. Ms MAGLADZE (Georgia) underlined the differences in the level of education across the various countries participating in the Bologna Process. It was necessary to ensure a more or less equal level of quality, since this would facilitate the recognition of diplomas awarded by PV\ doc 3/7

4 each country; it was important to envisage a mechanism for achieving this aim, and to include such a dimension in the draft report. The draft report should also suggest a more differentiated approach to the efforts made by each EaP country, in particular as regards points 19 and 20; in this connection, Georgia had largely eradicated corruption in the education sector, a positive result which could be taken as a model of best practice by other EaP countries and acknowledged in the text. Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) mentioned Poland s efforts to ensure quality education, with a specific board established under the Ministry of Higher Education. Each country would have its own solution to propose, but it was important to maintain an international approach, as provided for by the Bologna Process, in order to properly evaluate the quality of the education offered at domestic level. Nino KOPALEISHVILI (National Center For Educational Quality Enhancement of Georgia, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia) presented the activities of the National Centre, which aimed to ensure quality. First established in 2006, the agency had been restructured in After closing the discussion on this point and thanking all the speakers, Ms KOZLOWSKARAJEWICZ (EP) said that 29 January 2016 would be the deadline for amendments; the report would be discussed further, and the amendments voted on, at the committee s next meeting, to be held in Brussels immediately prior to the March 2016 plenary session. 6. Exchange of views with local representatives of the Bologna follow-up group Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) recalled that the Bologna Process, one of the main voluntary processes at European level, had been implemented in 47 states, which meant that the European Higher Education Area far transcended the EU alone. The Bologna Process follow-up group was thus a pan-european network of national correspondents who exchanged information among themselves and with all involved institutional partners from the Commission and national authorities. Ms KOPALEISHVILI (Georgia) presented an update on Georgia s current situation. Georgia was revising its standards in accordance with European standards and guidelines, making particular efforts to develop quality assurance criteria for joint programmes and for cross-border education. Ms Kopaleishvili also underlined the role of the Association Agreement, following which the Georgian institutional partners had also developed long-term policy documents and planned the revision of the relevant national qualifications framework. Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) enquired more specifically about the state of play regarding vocational education in Georgia, stressing its importance in linking education 4/7 PV\ doc

5 systems to the labour market. Germany and Austria were countries with a very well-developed system of vocational education, and consequently had extremely low levels of unemployment among both young people and other age groups. Ms Lela MAISURADZE (EU employment and vocational education policy expert for Technical Assistance Project) said that in recent times a majority of high school graduates in Georgia had preferred to proceed to higher education studies rather than vocational education, which was still associated with second-rate qualifications, although statistical data showed that there had been a reversal of this trend since Mr ZAKARYAN (Armenia) agreed that education was a factor guaranteeing economic development, on which the development of society would be based. Armenia s participation in the Bologna Processes had started in Bergen in 2005, after which Armenia had sought further integration into the European Higher Education Area for the mutual recognition of qualifications, as well as a high level of cooperation with Europe. 7. Election of the EaP Co-Chair and Vice-Co-Chairs of the Euronest PA Committee on Social Affairs, Education, Culture and Civil Society Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) recalled that at the Euronest PA Bureau meeting in Strasbourg of 7 October 2015 the EaP component had agreed to a rotation of the EaP office-holders. The co-chairmanship of the committee on the EaP side was thus allocated to the Azerbaijani delegation. While Azerbaijan had decided to withdraw from the Assembly, this would only become effective from 5 October 2016, until which date Azerbaijan could still reconsider its position. Accordingly, the post of EaP co-chair was therefore left vacant on account of the absence of the Azerbaijani delegation. Ms KOZLOWSKA-RAJEWICZ (EP) proceeded to the election by acclamation of the following new office-holders on the EaP side: - 8. Karine ACHAGMIAN Guguli MAGRADZE First Vice-Co-Chair, from Armenia Second Vice-Co-Chair, from Georgia Any other business No issues were raised under this point. 9. Date and place of the next meeting PV\ doc 5/7

6 As previously announced, the committee s next meeting would take place in the week of March 2016 in Brussels. The meeting closed at /7 PV\ doc

7 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 5 November 2015 Tbilisi, Georgia Members of the European Parliament Agnieszka KOZŁOWSKA-RAJEWICZ Valentinas MAZURONIS Acting Chair Member EPP, PL ALDE, LT Secretariat of the European Parliament Philippe KAMARIS, Administrator Viviane CHAO, Assistant Political groups Wojciech Jan DANECKI, ECR Egle KROPAITE, ALDE Jakub SEMRAU, S&D Members of the Parliament of Armenia Artak ZAKARYAN, head of delegation Karine ATSHEMYAN Republican (RPA) Republican (RPA) Members of the Parliament of Georgia Victor DOLIDZE Head of the Georgian Delegation to the Euronest PA, Co-President of the Euronest PA, Free Democrats Member, Georgian Dream National Forum Member, Georgian Dream Member, United National Movement Member, Georgian Dream Ani MIROTADZE Gia JORJOLIANI Giorgi KANDELAKI Guguli MAGRADZE Members of the Parliament of Ukraine Vitalii KURYLO Natalia VESELOVA Vitalii KORCHYK PV\ doc Petro Poroshenko Bloc Sampomich Union People s Front 7/7