eunbil · GT0N1310 · 2006-05-31 00:00:00 — subsidy in excess of this ceiling can only be granted under exceptional circumstances and after close scrutiny. The type of actions foreseen under Article 9(1) may be subsidised in respond to requests for subsidies, for example from Member States, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Financial Regulation and its Implementation Regulation . The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision relating to the following matters shall be adopted in accordance with the management procedure referred to in Article 13(2): (a) the general guidelines for the implementation of the programme; (b) the annual work programme for the implementation of the programme, divided up into separate sections; (c) the financial support to be supplied by the Community; (d) subject to Article 17, the annual budget; (e) the procedures for selecting the actions to be supported by the Community and the draft list of actions to receive such support submitted by the Commission; (f) the criteria for evaluating the programme including those relating to cost-effectiveness and the arrangements for disseminating and transferring results. The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision relating to all other matters shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 13(3). The Commission shall be assisted by a Committee. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at two months. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 3 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof. shall adopt its rules of procedure. Cooperation with other committees The Commission shall establish the necessary links with and in order to ensure that they are regularly and appropriately informed about the implementation of activities referred to in this Decision. The Commission shall also inform other relevant committees of the action taken under the five sections of the programme. Where appropriate, the Commission shall establish regular and structured cooperation between this Committee and the monitoring committees established for other relevant policies, instruments and actions. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, ensure overall consistency with other Union and Community policies, instruments and actions, in particular by establishing appropriate mechanisms to coordinate the activities of the programme with relevant activities relating to research, and home affairs, culture, education, training and youth policy, and in the fields of enlargement and the Community"s external relations, and with regional policy and general economic policy. A special attention should be given to the possible synergies between the present programme and those in the field of education and training. The Commission and the Member States shall ensure consistency and complementarity and the absence of duplication between actions undertaken under the programme and other relevant Union and Community actions, in particular under the and especially . The Commission shall make sure that expenditures covered and charged by the programme shall not be charged to any other Community financial instrument. The Commission shall keep the Committee referred to in Article 13 regularly informed of other Community action contributing to the strategy goals, in the field of the Social Agenda. Member States shall make all possible efforts to ensure consistency and complementarity between activities under the programme and those carried out at national, regional and local levels. Participation of third countries The programme shall be open to the participation of: - the EFTA/EEA countries in accordance with the conditions established in the EEA Agreement; - the candidate countries associated to the EU, as well as to the western countries included in the stabilisation and association process. The financial framework for implementing the Community activities referred to in this Decision for the period 1 January 2007 to shall be [657.59] million EUR. the entire period of the programme, the financial breakdown between the different sections shall respect the following lower limits: Section 1 Employment Section 2 Social protection and inclusion Section 3 Working conditions Section 4 Antidiscrimination and diversity Section 5 Gender equality 3. A maximum of of the financial envelope shall be attributed to the implementation of the programme to cover, for example, the expenditure related to the functioning of the Committee foreseen under Article 13 or the evaluations to be carried out according to Article 19. The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial perspectives. The Commission may have recourse to technical and/or administrative assistance, to the mutual benefit of the Commission and of the beneficiaries, as well as to support expenditure. Protection of the Community"s financial interests The Commission shall ensure that, when actions financed under the present decision are implemented, the financial interests of the Community are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and by the recovery of the amounts unduly paid and, if irregularities are detected, by effective, proportional and dissuasive penalties, in accordance with Council Regulations (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 and (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96, and with Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of Parliament and of the Council. For the Community actions financed under this decision, the notion of irregularity referred to in Article 1, paragraph 2 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 shall mean any infringement of a provision of Community law or any breach of a contractual obligation resulting from an act or omission by an economic operator, which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the Communities or budgets managed by them, by an unjustified item of expenditure. Contracts and agreements as well as agreements with participating third countries resulting from this decision shall provide in particular for supervision and financial control by the Commission (or any representative authorized by it) and audits by the Court of Auditors, if necessary on-the-spot. In order to ensure a regular monitoring of the programme and allow necessary reorientations, annual activity reports focusing on the outcomes delivered through the programme shall be elaborated by the Commission and transmitted to the programme Committee referred to in Article 13 and to Parliament. The programme shall also be the subject of a mid-term evaluation at the level of the different sections with an overview on the programme in order to measure the progress made regarding the impact of the programme objectives, the efficiency of the use of resources and its EU added value. This evaluation may be supplemented by on-going evaluations. These shall be carried out by the Commission with the assistance of external experts. When available, their results shall be reported in the activity reports referred to in paragraph 1. An ex-post evaluation covering the whole programme shall be carried out, by , by the Commission with the assistance of external experts, in order to measure the impact of the programme objectives and its EU added value. The Commission shall submit this document to Parliament, the Council, Economic and and . 4(new) The implementation of the individual sections of the programme, including the presentation of results and dialogue on future priorities, shall also be discussed within the framework of the Forum on the implementation of the Social Agenda. This Decision shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the . Done at ., For Parliament For the Council A COMMISSION STATEMENT TO BE ENTERED IN THE COUNCIL MINUTES "The Commission states that, in accordance with Article 10 of its proposal for a Decision establishing the PROGRESS programme, non-governmental organisations set up at national level in the Member States may take part in the programme." OJ C , , p. and amended proposal OJ C , , p . OJ C , , p. . OJ C , , p. . OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. OJ L 17, , p. OJ L 10, , p. OJ L 170, 29.6.2002, p. OJ L 157, 30.4.2004, p. 18, corrected in OJ L 195, , p.7 OJ L 180, , p. OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. OJ L 373, 21.12.2004, p. Reference to be completed. See Introductory Note, Section II, point (b). OJ L 184, , p. on the Social Agenda (COM(2005) 033). Council Regulation No 1605/2002, OJ L 248, p.1, especially Art. 110 Commission Regulation No. 2342/2002, OJ L 357, p.1, especially Art. 168 See Introductory Note, Section II, Point (b). See Introductory Note, Section II, Point (a). At 2004 prices. The figure is to be confirmed in the Commission"s amended proposal. 9494/06 MH/mk DG G II LIMITEEN 9494/06 MH/mk G II LIMITEEN 9494/06 MH/mk G II LIMITEEN