Activities of Ilana CICUREL related to 2023/2112(INI)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on European historical consciousness
Amendments (32)
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
– having regard to the European Cultural Convention of 19 December 1954;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)
Citation 4 b (new)
– having regard to the European Education Area;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 c (new)
Citation 4 c (new)
– having regard to the European Commission’s Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027);
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)
Citation 8 a (new)
– having regard to the 2014 report ‘Learning in the Digital Age’ of the European Network of Education Council;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Europe’s complex, conflict-ridden and contested past poses both a challenge and an opportunity for European integration; acknowledging the positive role that a well informed historical consciousness might have in fostering mutual understanding and tolerance for youth and future generations;
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas gender-, belief- and ethnicity-based injustices have been part of European history and inherent in Europeall human history over many centuries, including in the form of antisemitism and antigypsyism;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas historical negationism represents a major threatand any other form of denialism or biased revision represents a major threat against historical verified facts that kindles distrust and conflict between peoples and nations and undermines efforts to nurture historical justice and reconciliation;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas dealing with the past requires utmost impartiality, objectivity and dispassion both in historical scholarship and the political realminvites European citizens to explore the society around them, to engage with others, to analyse sources with impartiality, objectivity and self-reflection;
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas while there are ‘historical facts’ grounded in professional historical work, established among others via research, teaching, the preservation of historical sources and the maintenance of locations of historical significance, there is no single monolithic, indisputable and everlasting ‘historical truth’ that one specific group or nation can monopolise and exclusively claim for itself;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas fostering a critical historical consciousness across borders by educational and other means is central for Europeans to be able to come to terms withritically understand their past, confidently deal with the present and work towards a common future;
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas teaching history relies on an ethical dimension that aims at raising awareness and sensitise citizens to fundamental values, notably democracy;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas the compulsory teaching of history, citizenship education and history of European integration at different school levels varies strongly from one Member State to another;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I c (new)
Recital I c (new)
Ic. whereas only 39% of teachers in the Union feel well prepared for using digital technologies in their daily work1a; _________________ 1a OECD (2019), TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners, TALIS. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Acknowledges that the diverse and often conflicting histories of European nations and sMember States make any effort to deal with history at a supranational politicalEuropean level a difficult and potentially dangerous endeavour, and that attempts to regulate how to commemorate and interpret the past always prove to be challenging;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Emphasises the potential of the principle of historia magistra vitae and considers especially the dark elements of Europe’s history – including totalitarianism, racism, jingoism and colonialism – not only to be a vigorous reminder of past mistakes whose repetition is to be avoided, but also as a call to work jointly towards democratic and inclusive societies in the Union and globally; recalls that the competition of memories fuels political instrumentalization of historical events and leads to trivialization of history; recommends that teachers in training as well as students must be given appropriate tools and methodology to foster their critical thinking, analyse history with the adequate conceptual background and make the difference between key notions such as genocide, mass crime, massacre, ethnic cleansing;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recalls the need to work towards the constitution of an inventory of European contested memories and to foster the organisation of open European conferences gathering specialised researchers in order to identify principles, processes and best practices confronting the complexities of divisive historical memories; highlights in that regard the project ‘Contested Histories’ driven by the European association of history educators EUROCLIO;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers a responsible, evidence- based and critical dealing withapproach to history a sine qua non for any democratic body politic, liberal and cohesive society, in order to sensitise current and future generations for achievements and aberrations of the past alike, strengthen a self-reflexive public discourse and foster understanding and reconciliation within and among particular social groups, nations and states;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Stresses the need for an honest assessment of the EU’s ‘politics of the past’, - and the ways in which EU citizens are invited to engage with the past - through which it has striven to add legitimacy to the European project and strengthen a European sense of belonging, by equally acknowledging achievements and existing shortcomings; recalls that peace and reconciliation are at the heart of the European project and core values; warns that a fair assessment of the past as well as reconciliation of histories and memories between countries should be considered as a key condition to the success of the future European enlargements; therefore invites the Commission and the Member States to work in close cooperation with all relevant actors in candidate countries, including educational and research institutions, towards this direction;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Expresses its concern that there continues to be a latent competition and partial incompatibility between diffRecognises the existence of different memory frames as well as different cultures of remembrance and commemoration in the Union, especially between Western and Eastern Europe; emphasises that these models can co-exist provided that respectful dialogue and mutual understanding is maintained; stresses that Western and Eastern European countries experient memory frames and remembrance cultures in the Union, especially between Western and Eastern Europeced at the same time similar and different events that complement each other and now belong to European history; reaffirms that the emergence of a real European historical consciousness depends on the ability to understand those experiences in their specificity, complexity and subtlety;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recognises that the Union’s concern mainly with narrating a story about itself ex negativo, with the horrors of the past and especially National Socialism and Stalinism serving as a ‘negative foundation myth’, provides a strong sense of purpose for the European project, yet bears the risk of nurturing a teleological and simplistic black-and- white scheme of history which potentially hampers a fully informed understanding of Europe’s intricate past and reduces incentives to challenge stereotypes and sacred cows of national histories provides a strong sense of purpose for the European project;
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Acknowledges that nurturing a teleological and simplistic black-and- white scheme of history potentially hampers a fully informed understanding of Europe’s intricate past;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Underlines that the capacity to gather evidence and compare historical sources is a cornerstone of the construction of a true European historical consciousness; calls on the Member States to guarantee the openness, availability and accessibility of archives to allow historical research to be conducted in the best conditions and historical knowledge to be renewed and actualised; highlights, in view of the legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage, the importance of the Europeana project, serving as Europe’s digital library, archive and museum and education platform; calls for greater efforts to develop the platform further, including by allocating adequate funding for it, and by better promoting it to the general public and teachers;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Member States to revise current curricula and teaching methodologies with a view to shifting focus from national towards European and global history and in order to allow for more emphasis on a supranational historical remembrance, in particular by allowing for multiple interpretations of the same historical period and event and by fostering corresponding teaching styles that favour reflection and discussion over knowledge transfer and that are guided by the overall objective of making students learn ‘how to think’ rather than ‘what to think’; recalls the relevance of a learner- centred pedagogy that aims at fostering the ability to identify historical issues, contextualise, use historical concepts and contents together with a factual historical knowledge, understand chronology and specific contexts, confront sources, produce evidence-based argumentations as well as a critical analysis of the information provided;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Encourages the Member States, taking into account the views expressed by young Europeans at the occasion of the Conference on the Future of Europe, to ensure more teaching about the Union and that European history is more present in the school curricula, in order to, inter alia, strengthen the sense of belonging to Europe, learn about each other’s historical and cultural backgrounds, as well as better understand where each other’s differences are coming from, especially how the Union works and where the European project comes from; raises concerns on the lack of reliable data regarding the amount of time dedicated to the teaching of European history in national curricula; therefore calls the Commission to work hand-in- hand with the Member States towards the establishment of a consistent and well- documented database;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Calls on the Member States to provide tailor-made (history) teacher training that enables teachers to grasp transnational aspects of history, imparts adequate didactics and principles of modern teaching and is primarily concerned with forming self-reflective young people; in this context, underlines the difficulties encountered by history teachers to benefit from professional development training session; emphasises the value of tools developed with Erasmus+ support and which should be actively promoted, as they produce and share teaching resources and foster peer- learning activities, for example through e- Twinning, and develop teacher training modules, for example through the School Education Gateway;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 a (new)
Paragraph 12 a (new)
12a. Recalls the central role played by teachers in the development and transmission of competencies acquired by students to critically analyse historical facts; expresses concerns regarding the access to immediate, often biased and unverified content enabled by the rising level of digitalization, whose tools are increasingly used by young people to learn history1a; reminds therefore the Commission and the Member States, in line with the Digital Education Action Plan, about the need to provide teachers with adequate digital skills as well as innovative pedagogical know-how on the appropriate way to use digital tools to teach history and provide students with media literacy that enables them to contextualise, analyse and identify sources of digital historical content; _________________ 1a Juan Carlos Colomer Rubio and Anaclet Pons Pons, ‘Digital resources for rethinking history education’,p. 42-52, in Cosme Jesus Gomez Carrasco, Re- Imagining the Teaching of European History: Promoting Civic Education and Historical Consciousness, Routledge, 2023.
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12 b (new)
Paragraph 12 b (new)
12b. Stresses the positive impact of cross-border historical resources on the teaching of history in Europe; deplores however the failure regarding the publication of the 4th edition of the joint German-Polish textbooks in 2022; calls on the Commission and the Member States to offer support to historians and educational institutions working towards the development of transnational history textbooks;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen the tools currently available at European level, in particular within the Erasmus+ programme, in order to foster a (self- )critical European historical consciousness, in particular the Erasmus+ programme, whichby supportsing mobility and intercultural learning as key tools to increase understanding of other cultures and nations, as well as withind the CERV programme, which provides support for transnational historical remembrance projects and promotes civic engagement; stresses in this context the positive effects on a teaching pedagogy that includes visits of European historical places and helps students to better understand the interconnection between past and present and their own relation to history; calls on the Commission and Member States to sponsor and support such visits through the Erasmus+, CERV and DiscoverEU programmes;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Welcomes the decision of the Commission to launch a new call for the creation of fifteen Erasmus+ Teacher Academies; calls on the Commission and relevant partners to engage into projects under this initiative aiming at improving and reinforcing the teaching of history in Europe including at transnational level;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Requests that the European institutions, the Member States, educational institutions and civil-society actors step up efforts to abstain from and repudiate any attempt to instrumentalise history for political purposes and fight historical denialism both in the European Union and beyond; expresses its concerns over the misappropriation of memory laws in some Member States to instrumentalise, distort and rewrite history which constitutes a direct threat to academic freedom and research based on scientific evidence that contradicts official biased narratives imposed by nationalistic governments; therefore calls on the Commission to set up efficient policies and measures to guarantee a better protection of researchers;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Highlights the importance of the mission conducted by the Observatory on the teaching of history at the Council of Europe; recalls that the aim of the Observatory is to provide with a state of play of the teaching of history in Europe, foster multi-perspectivity and dialogue as well as a deep understanding of the functioning of different educational systems; deplores that only nine Members States are currently full members of this structure; invites the Members States and the Union as such to contribute to this initiative and to take interest to the upcoming report to be released on 30 November;
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Envisions national collective memories at all levels eventually contributing to and merging into a European public sphere, with nationaldiverse remembrance cultures complementing each other rather than being in competition, and dealings with historyhistory matters becoming an issue of civic rather than political action;