[pic] | COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES |

Brussels, 10.8.2006

COM(2006) 450 final

2004/0151 (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 decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of a programme of support for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007)

2004/0151 (COD)

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSIONTO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTpursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treatyconcerning

the common position of the Council on the adoption of a decision of the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of a programme of support for the European audiovisual sector (MEDIA 2007)

1. BACKGROUND

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council (document COM(2004) 470 final– 2004/0151 (COD)): | 15 July 2004. |

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee: | 6 April 2005. |

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions | 23 February 2005. |

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: | 25 October 2005. |

Date of adoption of the common position: | 24 July 2006. |

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

The Commission proposal is to establish a European support programme, MEDIA 2007, following on from the current MEDIA Plus and MEDIA Training programmes with a proposed budget of € 1.055 billion. Its principal aims are: Preserving and promoting Europe’s cultural diversity and cinematic/audiovisual heritage, ensuring public access to this heritage and encouraging dialogue between cultures; increasing the circulation of European films and other audiovisual productions, both inside and outside the EU and strengthening the commercial performance of the European audiovisual sector in an open and competitive market context.

3. COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1. General remarks

The Commission notes that the Council has reached an agreement by unanimity. The Council’s common position takes up in essence the amendments made by Parliament. It proposes a small number of changes to the Commission’s original proposal, including a change in the budget amount of the Programme.

3.2. Response to Parliament’s amendments adopted at first reading

The Commission fully accepted the majority of the Parliament's amendments: 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 25, 29, 32, 36, 37, 44, 46, 50, 58, 59, 60, 62, 66, 72 and 75.

The Commission accepted in principle or partially the following amendments: 5, 6, 7, 9, 14, 18, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56, 61, 63, 67, 68, 76 and 77.

The Common Position integrates all the amendments accepted by the Commission.

The Commission rejected the following amendments: 3, 15, 26, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 39, 49, 51, 52, 55, 57, 64, 65, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81, 82 and 83. Some of these amendments went beyond the objectives of the Media 2007 programme or fell outside of the scope of the programme; others referred to actions and objectives already covered by the programme. Certain other amendments were not acceptable because they would not help to reduce the imbalance in the European audiovisual market between Member States with low production capacity and Member States of high production capacity. Finally, the Commission could not accept either amendments referring to the Treaty establishing a Constitution, or amendments on the possibility of opening the programme to third countries.

3.3. New provisions introduced by the Council

Certain minor changes have been introduced by the Council in its common position, which are acceptable to the Commission.

There are two substantive differences with respect to the Commission’s proposal: the provisions on comitology, which continue the Committee arrangements implemented under the current MEDIA programme.

The only other new element apart from the budget, which the Council proposes to set at 671 M€ (in 2004 price values) and which results from the agreement on the Financial Perspectives for 2007-2013 is the inclusion of an indicative breakdown in the Annex in line with the previous decision on MEDIA Plus.

4. CONCLUSION

The Commission considers that the Council’s common position does not substantially modify the objectives and scope of the Commission’s proposal.