Proposal for a Council Decision establishing a Community action programme to promote the integration of refugees (1999/C 36/11) COM(1998) 731 final - 98/0356(CNS)

(Submitted by the Commission on 13 January 1999)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 235 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament,

(1) Whereas the Commission, in its Social Action Programme 1998-2000 (1), announced its intention to propose a programme for the integration of refugees, building on the successful pilot actions implemented in 1997 and 1998;

(2) Whereas the Member States and the Institutions have repeatedly expressed their concern about the situation of refugees; whereas the number of refugees in Europe has substantially increased in recent years;

(3) Whereas action in favour of the social and economic integration of the least privileged and most vulnerable population groups forms an integral part of economic and social cohesion, the maintenance and strengthening of which are among the fundamental objectives of the Community mentioned in Articles 2 and 3(j) of the Treaty; whereas refugees are particularly vulnerable people whose integration requires specific action and measures;

(4) Whereas Structural Fund assisted measures and other Community measures in the field of education and vocational training are not in themselves sufficient to promote this integration, and it is expedient to establish a programme of specific measures to that end;

(5) Whereas the programme should not prejudice the policies and powers of the Member States and should not overlap with or detract from joint actions launched in the fields of asylum and immigration policy or measures which may be taken by the Community in those areas;

(6) Whereas, in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as set out in Article 3b of the Treaty, the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, in that the objective is to support and supplement action taken by the Member States; whereas, furthermore, the objective of the programme provided for in this Decision by its very nature is situated at the Community level; whereas, therefore, the scale and impact of the programme should have a Community dimension and the programme should be applicable in the entire Community; whereas this Decision confines itself to the minimum required in order to achieve that objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose;

(7) Whereas the Treaty does not provide for the adoption of this Decision powers other than those under Article 235,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Establishment of the programme

An action programme to promote the integration of refugees who have settled or who are entitled to settle in the Member States is hereby established for the period from 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2000 in the framework of action in the field of social integration.

The purpose of the programme is to contribute to the effective integration into and the participation in society of refugees in the Member States, while fully respecting the Member States' responsibilities and the cultural identity of the refugees themselves.

Article 2

Target group

For the purpose of the programme, the target group is persons who have been granted admission to stay in a Member State either as refugees within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees of 28 July 1951, as amended by the New York Protocol of 31 January 1967, or as persons granted protection on an individual basis in accordance with Member States' international obligations or on humanitarian grounds.

Article 3

Aims

The aims of the programme shall be to support Member States' efforts in the area of integration of refugees by promoting:

(a) the development of integration measures;

(b) the creation and development of transnational cooperation on the issue;

(c) information, coordination, assessment, and exchange of good practice and experience at Community level;

(d) the stimulation of experiment and the identification of the best innovatory models of action in terms of contents and organisation;

(e) the analysis of the situation of refugees in the Member States;

(f) raising public awareness of the situation of refugees in the Member States.

Article 4

Community actions

The measures designed to attain the aims referred to in Article 3 shall be as follows:

(a) the setting up and running of large multi-dimensional, innovative projects with a clear Community added-value, undertaken by public authorities, non-governmental organisations and/or the social partners and covering a number of the fields of integration;

(b) the setting-up and running of Community-level projects including action in all Member States;

(c) the creation and development of transnational networks, in particular with a view to ensuring transfer of good practice and experience, inter alia, through the organisation of meetings and the preparation and publication of findings and reports;

(d) the exchange of experience, the assessment, monitoring and evaluation of projects and practice leading to the identification of innovative approaches to the integration of refugees;

(e) the collection, the compilation and the dissemination at national and Community levels of comparable data and reports concerning the situation and the integration of refugees in the Member States;

(f) the provision of information on the programme and the dissemination of its results.

Article 5

Consistency and complementarity

The Commission and the Member States shall ensure consistency and complementarity between the initiatives undertaken under this Decision and initiatives undertaken by the Member States and those undertaken under the Structural Funds and other Community policies, programmes and actions, including those relating to labour-market integration, to youth, education, training, research, culture, the reception, temporary protection and voluntary repatriation of asylum seekers and displaced persons.

Article 6

Implementation

1. The Commission shall implement the action programme in close cooperation with the Member States in accordance with this Decision.

2. The Commission shall cooperate with institutions and organisations active in the field of integration of refugees.

Article 7

Committee

The Commission shall be assisted by a committee of an advisory nature composed of the representatives of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission (hereinafter referred to as 'the Committee`).

The representative of the Commission shall submit to the Committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The Committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a time limit which the Chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter, if necessary by taking a vote.

The opinion shall be recorded in the minutes; in addition, each Member State shall have the right to ask to have its position recorded in the minutes.

The Commission shall take the utmost account of the opinion delivered by the Committee. It shall inform the Committee of the manner in which its opinion has been taken into account.

Article 8

Functions of the Committee

The Committee shall deliver opinions on the following points:

(a) general guidelines for the support to be provided by the Community;

(b) the annual work programme and matters concerning the financial breakdown of these activities;

(c) procedures for the selection of the actions supported by the Community, the criteria for monitoring and assessing those actions and the programme as a whole, and the arrangements for disseminating and transferring the results.

Article 9

Determination of financial assistance

1. The actions referred to in Article 4(a) and (b) may receive a Community financial contribution amounting to a maximum of 60 %.

However, in exceptional cases, and in accordance with criteria to be agreed with the Committee referred to in Article 7, that maximum shall be 80 %.

2. The actions referred to in Article 4(c) may receive a Community financial contribution amounting to a maximum of 90 %.

3. The actions referred to in Article 4(d), (e) and (f) shall be financed entirely by the General Budget of the European Communities.

Article 10

Monitoring and evaluation

1. The Commission shall be responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of the measures supported under the programme. Monitoring and evaluation may be financed from the appropriations available for the measures supported. A final evaluation, by independent experts, of the actions undertaken shall be made after completion of the programme.

2. The Commission shall present to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the implementation of the programme, incorporating the results of the evaluation carried out, at the latest by 1 June 2002.

Article 11

Date of taking effect

This Decision shall take effect on the day of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Communities.

(1) COM(1998) 259 final.