The 34th meeting of the Governing Board of the European Centre for Modern Languages involving over 40 participants took place at the Centre’s premises in Graz, Austria from 12–13 June 2025. Representatives from the member states of the ECML, the European Commission as well as colleagues from the Council of Europe Education Department contributed to the meeting.
Discussions covered a wide variety of topics ranging from recent developments within the Council of Europe in the field of language policy to national priorities of member states in language education, a forthcoming colloquium on Regional and Minority Language in the context of secondary education and the launch of a series of new communication initiatives. Participants also reviewed the main outputs of the ECML’s 2020–2023 programme “Inspiring innovation in language education” and were updated on the current 2024–2027 programme “Language education at the heart of democracy”, as well as regarding the training and consultancy activities offered in member states.
Within the framework of cooperation between the ECML with the European Commission, a Motivation Manifesto has been drafted by a working group based on the results of an ECML’s think tank on motivation in December 2024. Board members expressed strong appreciation for the document, which will be published to mark the 25th anniversary of the European Day of Languages on 26 September 2025.
As part of the meeting, a session with the OECD PISA Foreign Language Assessment team was held to collect input for the 2033 assessment, which will focus on foreign languages other than English. This enabled Board members to reflect on language education priorities and contribute data for an OECD working paper to be published in 2026, as well as for the development of the assessment itself.
For the period 2026-27, the ECML Governing Board elected, Panagiotis Passas (Greece) as Vice-Chair as well as Nataša Perić (Montenegro), Matthias von Gehlen (Germany) and Eva Tučková (Czechia) as Bureau members. The Board members also thanked Wendoline Timmerman (Netherlands), a Bureau member since 2024 and a Governing Board member since 2015 who will stand down at the end of the year. They also said farewell to Maria Iacovidou (Cyprus) who has been a Board member since 2020. Both were acknowledged for their great commitment to the work of the ECML.
The meeting took place against the tragic backdrop of the school shooting in Graz on 10 June, in which 11 innocent people lost their lives. In solidarity with the victims, the ECML Governing Board held a minute of silence. The Board members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to all families, students, and teachers affected by this heart-breaking event.