COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the Common Position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Decision laying down a Community Action Programme promoting non-governmental organisations primarily active in the field of environmental protection

2001/0139 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the Common Position of the Council on the adoption of a European Parliament and Council Decision laying down a Community Action Programme promoting non-governmental organisations primarily active in the field of environmental protection

1. PROCEDURE The Proposal COM(2001)337 final of June 2001 [1] was forwarded to the Council on 22 June 2001 in accordance with the co-decision procedure pursuant to Article 175 (1) of the EC Treaty. The Economic and Social Committee gave its opinion on 18 October 2001. The European Parliament gave its opinion at the first reading in session on 23 October 2001. Following the opinion of the European Parliament and pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty, the Council reached political agreement on a Common Position on 29 October 2001. The Council adopted the Common Position formally on 6 December 2001.

[1] OJ C 270 E, 25.09.2001, p. 125.

2. PURPOSE OF THE DECISION The general objective of the proposed Programme is to promote non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which are primarily active in the field of environmental protection at a European level and which contribute - or have the ability - to contribute to the development and implementation of Community environmental policy and legislation, and which have an established or potential ability to involve citizens in this process thereby increasing democracy, transparency and the sense of ownership of Community environmental policy and legislation.

The promotion of European environmental NGOs is essential both in light of the new European Governance initiative, where the involvement of civil society is a key priority, and the Sixth Environmental Action Programme [2] (6EAP), where wide-ranging dialogue with stakeholders in environmental policy-making is envisaged.

[2] Common position adopted on 27 September 2001.

3. COMMISSION COMMENTS

3.1. General comments

The Commission accepted totally, in part or in principle 15 of the 24 amendments proposed by the European Parliament in the first reading. All 15 plus an additional 7 have now been incorporated, either verbatim or in spirit, in the Common Position.

The Commission accepted all amendments, which increased transparency and accountability of the Commission and the beneficiaries, except for those introducing 'overlaps' (Amendments 11, 12, 17 and 21) and which were already covered - in part or in spirit - by other amendments.

More importantly, it did not accept the amendments, which re-instated 'in-kind' contributions as eligible expenses under the new Programme. The Commission has proposed a funding scheme, which is based on cash flow only, but with a higher level of financing to compensate the NGOs for the 'loss' of in-kind.

The Commission considers that the Common Position adopted on the xx December does not alter the approach and aims of the Proposal and can thus support the Common Position as it stands.

3.2. Detailed comments

3.2.1. Parliamentary amendments accepted by the Commission and incorporated in full or in part in the common position

Amendment 1 makes reference to the annual budgetary procedure. Incorporated.

Amendments 29 and 30 include NGOs also active in animal protection as eligible under the new Programme, provided that such activities serve to achieve environmental protection objectives. Incorporated in Recital 4.

The first part of Amendment 31, which details eligible structures of NGOs, has been incorporated in Article 2b.

Amendment 7 requires 'part-financing' from external sources. Acceptable in principle (already implicitly covered by Article 6.3). Incorporated in part 2 of the Annex.

Amendment 8 adds a new Article to ensure that the Programme priorities (from the 6EAP with the addition of "environmental education") appear in the Articles. The text was originally placed in the first part of the Annex. Incorporated in Article 5.1.

Amendment 9 details further information that the Commission must make available in its Calls for Proposals. Incorporated in Article 4.2. (Covers also Amd. 11 in part.)

Amendment 13 deletes the requirement in Article 6.1 to take account of the size of the applicant, referring instead to the revised "principles" of grant calculation in part 3 of the Annex. Incorporated.

Amendment 14 states that the beneficiary under the Programme may disburse funds to partners or member organisations. Incorporated.

Amendment 16 details that the Commission must provide unsuccessful applicants with sufficiently detailed reasons for their failure. Incorporated.

Amendment 18 slightly changes the wording of Article 8.1. and also highlights in Article 8.2. the accountability of partner organisations. Incorporated in spirit.

Amendment 19 was acceptable in principle - transparency was believed to be sufficiently covered by Amendment 20, and the obligation to provide unsuccessful applicants with reasons for failure was already covered by Amendment 16.

Amendment 20 obliges the Commission to produce an annual report and to convene an annual stakeholder meeting in order to discuss the outcome of the selection and award procedures for further transparency. Incorporated in spirit in Article 11. (Amendment 20 also covers - in part or in spirit - Amendments 11,12, 17 and 21.)

Amendment 22 stresses the relevance of capacity building and promotion of sustainable development also at local and regional level. Incorporated in Article 1.3.

Amendment 23 clarifies that the distribution of funds will be made in such a way that beneficiaries with smaller "volumes of relevant activities" will receive a relatively higher rate of support (grant distribution on a non-linear basis). Incorporated in full.

3.2.2. Parliamentary amendments rejected by the Commission and the Council and not incorporated in the common position

Amendments 15 and 24 identify contributions in-kind as eligible expenses under the Programme. This is not acceptable. See comments under 3.1.

3.2.3. Additional changes made by the Council to the Proposal

Recitals

Recitals 2 and 3 of the Proposal have switched order in the Common Position.

Recital 2, the phrase "That Decision should therefore be repealed" has been deleted.

Recital 3 has been slightly reworded to better reflect the wording of the 6EAP.

Recital 4, "sustainable development" has been added to reflect Articles 1, 2 and 5.

Recital 5 has been slightly reworded in order not to imply that the NGOs formally represent the people of Europe, as the NGOs have not been elected.

Recital 7 has been revised by adding "and to implement relevant activities" and "and NGO networks", and deleting "Their structure and activities should cover at least three European countries". This is to better reflect the content of the Articles.

Recital 8 - shortened for better alignment with the Programme objectives (Article 1).

Article 1

An additional objective has been introduced in Article 1.3 (new) - capacity building of small regional and local associations, which work to apply the 'acquis communitaire' in relation to the environment and sustainable development in their local area. Substance of Amd. 22.

Article 2

Main changes are two derogations, which have been added to Article 2b and 2d.

- Article 2b: A "three-country-coverage" requirement will still be the norm, while two countries will be acceptable "provided that the primary objective of the activities is to support the development and implementation of community environmental policy, as detailed in Article 1 paragraphs 2 and 3".

- Article 2d requires applicants to have been legally constituted for more than two years and to have their annual statements of accounts for the two preceding years certified by a registered auditor. This will still be the norm, but "in exceptional circumstances, the Commission can grant a derogation provided that this would not compromise the protection of the European Community financial interests".

The Commission recognises that there may be valid two-country-initiatives, which would also serve the key objective of the Programme - as well as high-quality networks, which have existed less that two years - and therefore accepts the possibilities for derogations.

Article 4

Additions, which increase transparency and further clarifies the Commission's intentions:

- Article 4.1: Besides publication in the OJ [3], the Commission should also use other means, e.g. Internet, to make the Programme known to potential beneficiaries.

[3] Official Journal of the European Communities

- Article 4.3: The Council has integrated Amendment 10, but with "payment" in the plural "payments" to make clear that grants are paid in several instalments.

Article 5

(By incorporating Amendment 8, Article 5.1 now contains the Programme priorities with the addition of "environmental education").

- Article 5.2 (new) refers to part 1 of the Annex for information on the selection and award process, which was previously accounted for in Article 5.

Article 9

- The addition to Article 9.1 "Repeated failure in two successful years shall result in ineligibility for the remaining years of the programme" gives further precision.

- Addition to Article 9.3 "(and with a right to appeal the decision)" provides further legal security for the beneficiaries.

- The additions to Article 9.3 "for the remaining years of the programme", makes it clear that sanctions imposed can only last for the duration of the Programme.

ANNEX

PART I

As a consequence to Amendment 8, Part 1 of the Annex now contains the "four steps of the selection and award process", where a reference to the Programme priorities in Article 5 has been added. The former Part 1 of the Annex, containing the priority areas identified in the 6EAP, is now outlined in Article 5.1. with the addition of "environmental education". No other changes made by the Council.

PART 2

Few changes have been made by the Council:

- Under the first sub-heading, "Political relevance" has been replaced by "Policy relevance".

- Under the first sub-heading, a new indent (the last one) has been added in order to take the substance of Amendments 5, 6 and 7 on board.

- Under the second sub-heading (indent 2), the following phrase has been added: "including arrangements to ensure involvement of membership in policy development and policy pronouncements".

- Under the third sub-heading (second indent), the following phrase has been added: "and the general public, etc.". The last indent of the Proposal has been suppressed.

PART 4

The Council has changed the title from "Ineligible expenses" to "Eligible expenses", and added under 4.1. (new) that all expenses incurred by the beneficiary shall be considered eligible (except for those listed in 4.2), giving some illustrative examples of such eligible activities from the Recitals.

4.2 still contains the "ineligible expenses" of the Proposal, but in a different order. "Private costs/use" has been replaced by "Private expenses". No other changes have been made.

4. CONCLUSION

The changes introduced by the Council help to clarify the terms of the Proposal as well as to increase transparency and accountability. The Commission therefore supports the Common Position adopted on the 6 December.