P6_TA(2004)0054

ARGO Programme *

European Parliament legislative resolution on the Commission proposal for a Council decision amending Decision 2002/463/EC adopting an action programme for administrative cooperation in the fields of external borders, visas, asylum and immigration (ARGO programme) (COM(2004)0384 — C6-0049/2004 — 2004/0122(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Commission proposal (COM(2004)0384) [1],

- having regard to Article 66 of the EC Treaty,

- having regard to Article 67 of the EC Treaty, pursuant to which the Council consulted Parliament (C6-0049/2004),

- having regard to Rule 51 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (A6-0019/2004),

1. Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

2. Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty;

3. Calls on the Council to notify Parliament if it intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

4. Calls for initiation of the conciliation procedure under the Joint Declaration of 4 March 1975 if the Council intends to depart from the text approved by Parliament;

5. Calls on the Council to consult Parliament if it intends to amend the Commission proposal substantially;

6. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

TEXT PROPOSED BY THE COMMISSION | AMENDMENTS BY PARLIAMENT |

Amendment 1

Recital 4

(4) The budgetary authority has substantially increased the appropriations allocated to the ARGO programme for 2004, with a view to better management of the external borders. | Deleted |

Amendment 2

Recital 5

(5) In order to promote the general objectives of the ARGO programme it is appropriate to increase the number of actions to be proposed in the area of external borders and to envisage new types of action. | (5) In order to promote the general objectives of the ARGO programme and to make it more accessible to national administrations it is appropriate to increase the number of actions to be proposed in the area of external borders and to envisage new types of action. |

Amendment 3

Recital 6a (new)

| (6a) In order to guarantee European added value for all the Member States, it should be possible to verify and assess what contribution they make to the European network for the control and surveillance of the external borders. For the same reason, a ceiling should be set on the available appropriations earmarked for actions by a single Member State. |

Amendment 4

Article 1, Point 1Article 10, paragraph 1a, point (ba) (new) (Decision 2002/463/EC)

| (ba)create added value for all Member States, so that projects of individual Member States enable better-coordinated actions between Member States to be implemented and consequently a more uniform level of security at all the external borders to be established. |

Amendment 5

Article 1, Point 3, Point (a)Article 12, paragraph 3, point (a) (Decision 2002/463/EC)

(a)prepare an annual work programme comprising specific objectives, thematic priorities, the objective criteria referred to in Article 10(1a)(b), a description of the actions referred to in Article 10(3) which the Commission intends to undertake and, if necessary, a list of other actions. | (a)prepare an annual work programme comprising specific objectives, thematic priorities, the objective criteria referred to in Article 10(1a)(b), the definition of the maximum share of the annual budget available for the actions referred to in Article 10(1a), a description of the actions referred to in Article 10(3) which the Commission intends to undertake and, if necessary, a list of other actions. |

[1] Not yet published in OJ.

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