Lisbon, Jan. 22, 2021 (Lusa) - Education can make "an important contribution" to the implementation of Europe's Social Pillar, one of the issues on the agenda of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU, Portugal's education minister said on Friday.

Tiago Brandão Rodrigues was speaking at the entrance to the Centro Cultural de Belém, before opening the informal Council of European Union (EU) Education Ministers, which takes place remotely and marks "an important day for education in Europe".

"Today we are here to design the new Europe we want, with the European Education Area, and to be able to invest in the social dimension of Europe", he stressed.

Last September, the European Commission published a document that set out the path to make the European Education Area a reality by 2025. It is now up to the member states to discuss and adopt it.

This European Education Area aims to harness education and culture's full potential as a driving force for job creation, economic growth and strengthening social cohesion in all the Community bloc members.

The minister said education also seemed to be "an important contribution" to the "preparation of the European Social Summit", which will take place in Porto, on 7 and 8 May, where the government hopes to see the approval of a declaration that places employment, skills and social protection as central elements of the EU economic recovery.

"It is important today to be here, among everyone, discussing how the European Social Pillar can always - because it has to - count on education and training", Rodrigues said, regretting, however, the fact that the event will not be organised in Braga, where it was initially planned, and where he was born and studied, so he "would like to show it" to his counterparts.

The education minister today chaired the informal EU Council of Education Ministers, devoted to the role of education and training in the European social model, which was also initially scheduled to last two days, Thursday and today, but was reduced to one day because of the worsening epidemiological situation in Europe.

In addition to the education officials from the 27 Member States, the meeting will be attended by the Portuguese minister for higher education, Manuel Heitor, the European commissioners Mariya Gabriel (Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth) and Nicolas Schmit (Employment and Social Rights) and the European Commission's advisor on social rights, the former minister for labour José António Vieira da Silva.

At the end of the meeting, a joint press conference is to be held with the ministers for education and science and higher education and the two European commissioners.

BYC/ADB // ADB.

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