EU ‘trying to indoctrinate children’ with new syllabus
The EU has been accused of trying to “indoctrinate children” after a proposal was endorsed by MEPs to introduce a pro-Brussels “common curriculum” across the bloc.
The European Parliament signed off a demand for member states to teach lessons on “European integration” to crack down on a rise in Euroscepticism.
But critics of the bloc have said the resolution, which was overwhelmingly backed by MEPs, is proof of the EU’s intent to create a European superstate.
Cristian Terhes, a Romanian MEP, said: “EU bureaucrats are not losing any chance to undermine the sovereignty of EU national states, and the projects for a single EU curriculum proves it.
“The EU has no power to legislate in education, which is a national competence. These bureaucrats want to indoctrinate children from an early age, like the communists once did.”
The report blamed an “insufficient knowledge of or ignorance about the EU and poor understanding of its func
‘EU bureaucrats are not losing any chance to undermine the sovereignty of EU national states’
tioning” on the bloc’s unpopularity across a number of its national capitals.
It calls on member states to introduce a “renewed European momentum in citizenship education” as a way to counter the “allure of misinformation, extremist and populist discourses”.
The report says there should be a standard set for a “minimum understanding” of what it means to be a citizen of the EU, as well as the formation of a “European common identity”.
Member states were encouraged to “review and update their education systems – and all forms of EU-related curricula content at all levels”.
Domenec Ruiz Devesa, a Spanish MEP, who was in charge of the report, said: “Citizenship is inadequately covered in curricula in schools in many EU countries.
“There is a huge gap between the grand aspirations in the documents we publish and the reality on the ground.”
The European Commission is obliged to consider the report after it was adopted by MEPs.
Currently the EU’s competence in education policy remains limited, and is designed merely to “support, coordinate or supplement the actions of member states”.