In January 2000, the Executive Committee of the CEL/ELC set up a task force entitled the Task Force on European Language Policy (TFP), with the mission of outlining the framework of a European university language policy. The statutes of the CEL/ELC are still very general in this area, with regard to both the objectives and methods.

In particular, the statutes refer to the quantitative and qualitative improvement of language skills, the development of the multilingual and multicultural character of Europe, the promotion of other languages and cultures, the creation and launching of European projects, the evaluation of teaching and research units in these areas, and the need for universities to co-operate in these activities involving education, research and assessment. These are objectives that the TFP must adopt, define, develop and realise, in the form of a CEL/ELC reference document, which will aim to define the specific role of universities in the creation of the European plurilingual and pluricultural citizen.

The first draft of the reference document was presented for discussion at a workshop conducted at the Freie Universität Berlin on 15 - 16 December 2000. The revised version will be presented at the workshop on Universities and language policy in Europe, one of the workshops at the European Year of Languages 2001 Conference Multilingualism and New Learning Environments, which will be held at the Freie Universität Berlin on 28 - June 2001.

Members of the Task Force on European Language Policy:

Anne-Claude Berthoud, Universite de Lausanne, CH (chair)
Jyrki Kalliokoski, Helsingin yliopisto, FI
Wolfgang Mackiewicz, Freie Universität Berlin, DE
Claude Truchot, Université Marc Bloch Strasbourg, FR
Piet Van de Craen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, BE