Christopher Booker's
notebook
(Filed: 26/03/2006)
A little illegal propaganda
In schools all over Britain pupils aged 10 and upwards have been invited to take
part in a competitition, sponsored by the Department for Education and Skills
and the European Commission, to design a poster celebrating "the importance of
European integration" and the part played by the European Charter of Fundamental
Rights in protecting the "rights of children".
The prize, organised by a mysterious body called the British Youth Council,
will be a trip to Brussels and a day-long tour on the "themes of the European
Union and justice, freedom and security", including lunch with a Commission
vice-president.
One odd thing is that the Charter is part of the EU Constitution, which has as
yet no legal force. Another, as the Democracy Movement points out, is that the
competition is in breach of the 1996 Education Act, which
forbids the promotion in our schools of "partisan views on any subject".
But since enforcement of this law is in the hands of the DfES,
the competition's sponsors, it seems unlikely that much enforcement will follow.
I trust the second prize will be a whole week in Brussels.