EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM

Point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management[1] allows for the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) through a flexibility mechanism, within the annual ceiling of EUR 500 million over and above the relevant headings of the financial framework.

The rules applicable to the contributions from the EGF are laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund[2].

On 29 February 2012, Ireland submitted application EGF/2012/001 IE/Talk Talk for a financial contribution from the EGF, following redundancies in Talk Talk Broadband Services (Ireland) Limited (hereinafter referred to as Talk Talk) and three of its suppliers in Ireland.

After a thorough examination of this application, the Commission has concluded in accordance with Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 that the conditions for a financial contribution under this Regulation are met.

SUMMARY OF THE APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS

Key data: ||

EGF Reference no. || EGF/2012/001

Member State || Ireland

Article 2 || (a)

Primary enterprise || Talk Talk Broadband Services (Ireland) Limited

Suppliers and downstream producers || 3

Reference period || 7.9.2011 – 7.1.2012

Starting date for the personalised services || 7.9.2011

Application date || 29.2.2012

Redundancies during the reference period || 586

Redundancies before and after the reference period || 6

Total eligible redundancies || 592

Redundant workers expected to participate in the measures || 432

Expenditure for personalised services (EUR) || 5 092 765

Expenditure for implementing EGF[3] (EUR) || 300 000

Expenditure for implementing EGF (%) || 5,6

Total budget (EUR) || 5 392 765

EGF contribution (50 %) (EUR) || 2 696 382

1. The application was presented to the Commission on 29 February 2012 and supplemented by additional information up to 15 May 2012.

2. The application meets the conditions for deploying the EGF as set out in Article 2(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, and was submitted within the deadline of 10 weeks referred to in Article 5 of that Regulation.

Link between the redundancies and major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation

3. In order to establish the link between the redundancies and major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation, Ireland argues that Talk Talk was a customer service centre based in Waterford, originally set up to provide services for both the companies Talk Talk UK and AOL UK. The company supported Talk Talk’s UK market for broadband, voice and, more recently, for TV via inbound, outbound, email and white mail services. Following the purchase of the UK’s ISP division of AOL, broadband services under the AOL Broadband brand were also provided.

Talk Talk offered telecoms services to residential Irish customers under the Talk Talk and AOL brands and to business customers under the Opal brand. It also provided full lifecycle management of Talk Talk’s customers in the UK.

4. Talk Talk in Waterford, as near-shore location for the provision of shared services for a foreign client (AOL and Talk Talk UK), benefited from the international trend over the past decade known as business process outsourcing (BPO). BPO typically involves a company contracting specific operations or processes to a third party provider. Trends that are currently influencing the development and location of shared services include:

· Cost Reduction: Growth in BPO services can be attributed to companies' need to decrease costs and improve service delivery process. The transition to a BPO service model allows companies to increase and decrease capacity quickly and more efficiently as determined by business conditions. Lower cost locations such as India, with a technologically knowledgeable, English speaking workforce, continue to win new business in BPO.

· Technology developments have influenced how the industry has developed and is playing a greater role in contact centre operations e.g. voice over internet protocol (VOIP), e-mail, web-generated queries, automated contact tools, voice recognition etc.

· Remote services: The ability to service clients / customers remotely has been enabled by improvements in global technology infrastructure.

· Complexity: Firms are outsourcing a broader range of increasingly complex business functions and the original cost driven, primarily volume transaction model has evolved considerably.

5. Talk Talk grew very rapidly, both by acquisition and organically. Between 2005 and 2011, it grew from no broadband customers to over four million. This rapid growth happened when the company acquired UK internet service providers such as One Tel, AOL and Tiscali and offered free broadband services to the UK market. It gave Talk Talk a call centre "estate" of 24 centres in Ireland, the UK, India, the Philippines and South Africa. These centres had been handling millions of calls per week in the past. To address the new challenges, Talk Talk rationalised its IT systems, improved and simplified its business processes, and reorganised its brands, customer offering and organisation into one company i.e. Talk Talk Group plc, down from nine companies previously.

6. One major result of these actions was that the volume of calls to Talk Talk centres was reduced dramatically, particularly in the five or six months before the Waterford facility closure, to the extent of up to a 40 % volumetric reduction.

7. Talk Talk reduced its number of call centres from 24 to 13. The Waterford redundancies were a direct result of the company’s decision to consolidate activities both in the UK and with three chosen outsourcers. In 2011, the company adopted a strategic alliances with three key non-EU providers where a significant bulk of work is being transferred. These third country providers are Wipro in India, Transcom in the Phillipines, and CCI in South Africa. As a result, some 80 % of Talk Talk volumes are now estimated by the company to be handled outside the EU. Talk Talk has moved towards a primarily outsourced call services model with some specialist activities being retained in the United Kingdom only, and this has resulted in the loss of the entire Waterford based operation.

Demonstration of the number of redundancies and compliance with the criteria of Article 2(a)

8. Ireland submitted this application under the intervention criteria of Article 2(a) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, which requires at least 500 redundancies over a four-month period in an enterprise in a Member State, including workers made redundant in its suppliers and downstream producers.

9. The application cites 586 redundancies in Talk Talk Broadband Services (Ireland) Limited and three of its suppliers during the four-month reference period from 7 September 2011 to 7 January 2012 and a further six redundancies outside the reference period, but related to the same collective redundancies procedure. All of the redundancies from Talk Talk (573) were calculated in accordance with the third indent of the second paragraph of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006. The Commission has received confirmation from Ireland that all of these redundancies have meanwhile been effected. The redundancies from the suppliers (19) were counted according to the first indent of the second paragraph of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) 1927/2006.

Explanation of the unforeseen nature of those redundancies

10. The Irish authorities argue that there were two previous rounds of redundancy (April 2010 and April 2011) with an estimated 50 persons per instance. These were viewed as representing management restructuring which would allow for the Waterford operation to be managed directly from UK headquarters. In addition, while there was an estimated 40 % decrease in the volume of calls to the Talk Talk centre in Waterford, there was nothing to suggest that the complete closure of the centre, as transpired with the complete closure in October 2011, with the consequential loss of all employment, was being considered by the company.

Identification of the dismissing enterprises and workers targeted for assistance

11. The application relates to 592 redundancies, of which 573 occurred in Talk Talk Broadband Servives (Ireland) Limited and a further 19 in three of its suppliers, i.e. AA Security Services (four redundancies), Campbells Catering trading as Aramark (seven redundancies) and Noonan Services Group Ltd (eight redundancies).

12. The break-down of the targeted workers is as follows:

Category || Number || Percent

Men || 237 || 54,86

Women || 195 || 45,14

EU citizens || 426 || 98,61

Non EU citizens || 6 || 1,39

15-24 years old || 48 || 11,11

25-54 years old || 371 || 85,88

55-64 years old || 12 || 2,78

> 64 years old || 1 || 0,23

13. A survey of the redundant workers found that some 74 % were between the ages of 20 and 35, with the median age being 26.

There are no workers with longstanding health problem or disability among the affected or targeted workers.

14. In terms of occupational categories, the break-down is as follows:

Category || Number || Percent

Sales || 114 || 26,39

Customer services || 173 || 40,05

Customer technical support || 96 || 22,22

IT || 6 || 1,39

Catering Assistant || 5 || 1,16

Cleaning operative || 6 || 1,39

Security || 3 || 0,69

Other || 29 || 6,71

15. The 'other' occupations were typically associated with the back office management in Talk Talk – general administration, finance, and facilities management.

16. In accordance with Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, Ireland has confirmed that a policy of equality between women and men as well as non-discrimination has been applied, and will continue to apply, during the various stages of the implementation of and, in particular, in access to the EGF.

Description of the territory concerned and its authorities and stakeholders

17. The Talk Talk facility was located on the outskirts of Waterford City in the NUTS III South East Region of Ireland. In 2011, Waterford City had the fifth largest urban population in the State of Ireland with a population of 51 203.

18. Agriculture remains a significant employer in the region, with 9,6 % of the regional workforce, more than twice the State average and higher than any other region. The proportion involved in industry / manufacturing is also above the average nationally. Although services employment has grown in the surrounding region (NUTS III South East), the proportion employed there (37,5 %) is lower than the national average (40,5 %).

19. In relation to the labour force educational attainment, there is a significantly lower percentage of those in the labour market in the South East region with third level qualifications (34 %) compared to the national average (40 %). The percentage of those with a highest educational attainment of lower secondary level and below in the South East is high (23 %) compared to the national average (19 %).

Compared to other regions, the South East’s industrial base has not developed strong clusters in specific areas that can help attract future investments. The multinational sector is proportionately smaller than in other regions. The region and the city of Waterford in particular has been hit by a series of major redundancies in recent years including over 650 redundancies at the Waterford Crystal facility at Kilbarry and ancillary enterprises which were the subject of a separate EGF application (EGF/2009/012 IE/Waterford Crystal). These mass redundancies have had a major adverse impact on the workers involved, Waterford City and its hinterland and the wider South East region.

20. Apart from the national stakeholders, i.e. the responsible government Departments and Agencies, the more local stakeholders are the Talk Talk Redundant Workers' Committee, Waterford City Council, Waterford Area Partnership Board, Waterford Chamber of Commerce and local service providers such as FÁS / SOLAS, Waterford Chamber Skillnet, Contact Centre Management Association Skillnet (national call centre network), Waterford City and County Enterprise Boards and Waterford Institute of Technology.

21. The Department of Education and Skills (the main national stakeholder and managing authority) has engaged with representatives of the redundant workers at both political (ministerial) and official levels. The views of the representatives were sought in preparing the EGF application in order to ascertain the most appropriate measures to enable redundant workers to improve their employability prospects and to be kept in contact with the labour force. Written proposals from stakeholders were received and taken into consideration in the framing of the EGF application.

Expected impact of the redundancies as regards local, regional or national employment

22. The South East region has had persistently higher than average levels of unemployment compared to the rest of the country. In addition, it has fared disproportionately badly as a result of the financial and economic crisis. Since 2007, the region’s unemployment rate has jumped from 4,9 % to 18,2 % in 2011 compared to a national average of 14,3 %. The 18,2 % unemployment rate was the highest of all regions in 2011.

23. Over the period September 2011 to January 2012 when the Talk Talk redundancies were effected, the numbers of unemployed on the unemployment register for Waterford City increased from 11 529 to 12 193 (+ 5,76 %) compared to a national increase from 437 441 to 439 589 i.e. just + 0,49 %.

24. After a period of sustained growth, employment levels in the region have declined significantly over the past three years. There were almost 35 000 less people at work in the region at Q1 / 2011 than in 2008, when employment peaked at 223 000. Labour force participation rates have dropped from 62,7 % in 2007 to 58,1 % in 2011 (below the State average).

25. In addition, during the period from Q4 / 2010 to Q3 / 2011 numbers employed in the NACE section N 'Administrative and support service activities' (which includes the NACE Call centre division 82 corresponding to the Talk Talk operation) increased from 58 700 to 65 900 for the State as a whole, but decreased for the South East region from 6 400 to 4 800, highlighting the limited potential for the sector to create new employment opportunities for the redundant workers.

26. The loss in revenues owing to the Talk Talk redundancies is also expected to generate significant losses in indirect employment through the loss in workers' disposable incomes and through a reduction in Talk Talk's purchases of Irish goods and services locally and regionally.

Co-ordinated package of personalised services to be funded and a breakdown of its estimated costs, including its complementarity with actions funded by the Structural Funds

27. The main actions can be summarised as follows :

– Guidance and career planning: The services provided under this measure include individualised profiling, needs identification, learning assessment, CV preparation, career guidance, job search assistance and other related supports and advice to redundant workers. A range of bodies are involved in providing their services to assist the redundant workers during this phase and thereafter.

This process commenced swiftly on foot of the announced closure of the Talk Talk facility in September 2011 through initial FÁS / SOLAS interventions. A tailored certificate in career development and skills enhancement is also being run to assist the redundant workers to assess their potentiality in terms of recognition of prior learning, personal development and study skills and to provide the opportunity to sample relevant and appropriate educational pathways.

– Training programmes: Redundant workers have, upon consultation, expressed interest in a wide range of training areas including computing, business, accountancy, sales, office skills, graphic art, beauty care, child care etc. Training will be provided both directly by State providers and also through private sector trainers via the EGF training grant, which allows applicants to identify and select approved training programmes outside of the services provided by FÁS and other State agencies. Specific internship, work placements, work experience, traineeship and community-oriented training programmes will also be a feature of some training interventions, where appropriate.

– Further education and higher education courses: The majority of courses are accredited on the National Framework of Qualifications. Programmes can be offered at the times and places that most suit the learners' circumstances. Where possible, the use of additional dynamic tailored courses and programmes will be considered.

Emphasis will be placed initially on assessing those considering higher education pathways, their skills sets and suitability to enter particular courses or whether preparatory courses or alternative options in other support areas are more appropriate. Due to the time constraints of the EGF implementation period, EGF funding will not be provided for courses which exceed the EGF implementation period. As such, third level supports will be confined to those courses which can be completed either entirely, or on a strictly modular basis, within the EGF implementation period and may include specifically tailored courses in this context. It is worth noting as an innovative measure that Waterford Institute of Technology is designing an accelerated Bachelor of Science course (Level 7) specifically for the targeted group of workers, which will include existing modules and bespoke modules that address identified skills shortages in the science and related areas, for completion within the EGF implementation period.

– EGF training grant: This will also enable redundant workers to access privately provided third level courses where these are not available through the publicly funded system or are not suitable to a redundant worker’s particular circumstances. This approach has proved beneficial in previous EGF programmes in Ireland.

– Skillnets training: Skillnets is a State funded, enterprise-led support body dedicated to the promotion and facilitation of training and upskilling. It supports and funds networks of enterprises to engage in training under the Training Networks Programme. These networks, now referred to as 'Skillnets', are led and managed by the enterprises themselves, to design, manage and deliver specific training programmes across a broad range of industry and service sectors nationwide.

Skillnets provide training to former Talk Talk employees through two of Skillnets’ training networks - CCMA Ireland Skillnet and Waterford Chamber Skillnet. Courses on offer include Customer Service, Broadband Service Skills and Frontline Technical Support for call centres. Courses on offer for those looking for a career change include Creativity for Entrepreneurship, Start your own Business and Project Management. Already a number of call centre companies have offered job placements to former TalkTalk staff as part of the Skillnets training programme package, and it is expected that this will lead to some job offers in the near future.

– Enterprise / self-employment supports: Enterprise and self-employment support will be delivered through the relevant City and County Enterprise Boards in the South East Region, or other relevant structures. A wide array of supports are being made available to redundant workers who are contemplating starting their own businesses, including introductory modules, workshops, mentoring, business planning and grant aid to assist with self-employment and start-up costs.

– Training, education and enterprise allowances: Depending on the provider of the education, training or enterprise schemes, various allowances are available to the redundant workers in lieu of social welfare payments.

– EGF course expenses contribution: In order to increase the accessibility of EGF co-financed supports, a limited EGF Course Expenses Contribution scheme will be paid towards the cost of travel, subsistence, course equipment and materials etc. This contribution will help to facilitate an individual’s access to relevant courses and seeks to increase participation by the eligible redundant workers in the pursuance of EGF co-financed measures and opportunities, where appropriate.

28. The expenditure for implementing the EGF, which is included in the application in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, covers preparatory, management and control activities as well as information and publicity. The somewhat higher amount at 5,6 % of the total reflects, inter alia, the early establishment of the EGF Co-ordination Unit in Waterford to deliver strong co-ordinated interventions to the redundant employees. Furthermore, the Department proposes to engage external auditors to conduct appropriate validation checks. It is also expected that an additional resource will be required by the County Enterprise Board in Waterford to manage applications in respect of enterprise and self-employment supports.

29. The personalised services presented by the Irish authorities are active labour market measures within the eligible actions defined by Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006. The Irish authorities estimate the total costs of these services at EUR 5 092 765 and the expenditure for implementing the EGF at EUR 300 000 (5,6 % of the total amount). The total contribution requested from the EGF is EUR 2 696 382 (50 % of the total costs).

Actions || Estimated number of workers targeted || Estimated cost per worker targeted (EUR) || Total costs (EGF and national cofinancing) (EUR)

Personalised services (first paragraph of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006)

Guidance and career planning || 110 || 487,27 || 53 600

Training programmes || 134 || 2 745,71 || 367 925

Further and higher education courses || 205 || 7 395,02 || 1 515 980

EGF training grant || 119 || 2 600,84 || 309 500

Skillsnets training || 260 || 1 076,92 || 280 000

Enterprise / self-employment supports || 370 || 2 600,00 || 962 000

Training, education and enterprise allowances || 145 || 3 612,14 || 523 760

EGF course expenses contribution (instances) || 432 || 2 500,00 || 1 080 000

Sub total personalised services || || 5 092 765

Expenditure for implementing EGF (third paragraph of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006)

Preparatory activities || || 10 000

Management || || 250 000

Information and publicity || || 20 000

Control activities || || 20 000

Sub total expenditure for implementing EGF || || 300 000

Total estimated costs || || 5 392 765

EGF contribution (50 % of total costs) || || 2 696 382

30. Ireland confirms that the measures described above are complementary with actions funded by the Structural Funds and that measures are in place to ensure that no double funding can occur. The Irish authorities have established a Monitoring Committee for the Coordination of EU Funds under the National Strategic Reference Framework in accordance with Article 27(5) (b) of Regulation 1083/2006 encompassing ESF, EFF and EAFRD. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform chairs the Committee which discusses any issues of relevance including the demarcation of funds in operational programmes and any implementation issues that may arise and any plans for new programmes to ensure that Funds are not overlapping. In addition, as part of the implementation process for the ESF and ERDF, a group was established and is chaired and co-ordinated by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, to deal with any issues relating to the implementation of the Structural Funds for the 2007-2013 period. Since 2010, the EGF has been included in this process.

Date(s) on which the personalised services to the affected workers were started or are planned to start

31. Ireland started the personalised services to the affected workers included in the co-ordinated package proposed for co-financing to the EGF on 7 September 2011. This date therefore represents the beginning of the period of eligibility for any assistance that might be awarded from the EGF.

Procedures for consulting the social partners

32. As there was no trade union involved in Talk Talk, the EGF Managing Authority has been in discussions with the redundant workers' representatives both directly and through a local group of stakeholders and service providers chaired by the Waterford City Manager (see also point 20 above).

33. The Irish authorities confirmed that the requirements laid down in national and EU legislation concerning collective redundancies have been complied with.

Information on actions that are mandatory by virtue of national law or pursuant to collective agreements

34. As regards the criteria contained in Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, the Irish authorities in their application:

· confirmed that the financial contribution from the EGF does not replace measures which are the responsibility of companies by virtue of national law or collective agreements;

· demonstrated that the actions provide support for individual workers and are not to be used for restructuring companies or sectors;

· confirmed that the eligible actions referred to above do not receive assistance from other EU financial instruments.

Management and control systems

35. Ireland has notified the Commission that the financial contribution will be managed by the designated staff of the Department of Education and Skills, who have been appointed as the EGF Managing Authority. The Managing Authority examines and pays EGF claims submitted by Intermediate Bodies on behalf of public expenditure bodies.

36. Intermediate Bodies are responsible for claiming EGF funding from the Managing Authority and in most cases for its disbursement. Intermediate Bodies are also responsible for verification that the purpose, scope and scale of funding is appropriate within the terms of the EGF application. In addition, they ensure that monitoring and adequate recording and internal control procedures in relation to all EGF-related expenditure and claims are established by public beneficiary bodies and duly documented.

37. The EGF Certifying Authority is resonsible for the certification of expenditure statements related to EGF co-financed measures. In doing so, the Certifying Authority satisfies itself on compliance with all requirements relating to the accuracy, legality, eligibility and regularity of expenditure.

38. Independent bodies performing second-level checks ensure that the declaration of final expenditure by the public beneficiary bodies in respect of all paid interim claims is accurate and supported by a clear audit trail and make a formal declaration to the Managing Authority of the total amount of eligible expenditure.

39. The Secretary General, as Accounting Officer for the Department of Education and Skills with responsibility for EGF, has delegated specific statutory responsibility for certifying claims to an appropriate officer at each level of the 'cascade' arrangement of monitoring and verification of EGF services and expenditure. This ensures that there can be no overruling or undue influence on these persons by more senior officers in the management chain. It thus underpins their individual authority and the segregation of duties and controls during the implementation of the EGF application.

Financing

40. On the basis of the application from Ireland, the proposed contribution from the EGF to the coordinated package of personalised services (including expenditure to implement EGF) is EUR 2 696 382, representing 50 % of the total cost. The Commission's proposed allocation under the Fund is based on the information made available by Ireland.

41. Considering the maximum possible amount of a financial contribution from the EGF under Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006, as well as the scope for reallocating appropriations, the Commission proposes to mobilise the EGF for the total amount referred to above, to be allocated under heading 1a of the financial framework.

42. The proposed amount of financial contribution will leave more than 25 % of the maximum annual amount earmarked for the EGF available for allocations during the last four months of the year, as required by Article 12(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006.

43. By presenting this proposal to mobilise the EGF, the Commission initiates the simplified trialogue procedure, as required by Point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006, with a view to securing the agreement of the two arms of the budgetary authority on the need to use the EGF and the amount required. The Commission invites the first of the two arms of the budgetary authority that reaches agreement on the draft mobilisation proposal, at appropriate political level, to inform the other arm and the Commission of its intentions. In case of disagreement by either of the two arms of the budgetary authority, a formal trialogue meeting will be convened.

44. The Commission presents separately a transfer request in order to enter in the 2012 budget specific commitment appropriations, as required in Point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006.

Source of payment appropriations

45. Appropriations on the EGF budget line will be used to cover the amount of EUR 2 696 382 needed for the present application.

Proposal for a

DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

on the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in accordance with point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (application EGF/2012/001 IE/Talk Talk from Ireland)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management[4], and in particular point 28 thereof,

Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 establishing the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund[5], and in particular Article 12(3) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission[6],

Whereas:

(1) The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) was established to provide additional support for workers made redundant as a result of major structural changes in world trade patterns due to globalisation and to assist them with their reintegration into the labour market.

(2) The Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 allows the mobilisation of the EGF within the annual ceiling of EUR 500 million.

(3) Ireland submitted an application to mobilise the EGF, in respect of redundancies in the enterprise Talk Talk Broadband Services (Ireland) Limited and three of its suppliers, on 29 February 2012 and supplemented it by additional information up to 15 May 2012. This application complies with the requirements for determining the financial contributions as laid down in Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006. The Commission, therefore, proposes to mobilise an amount of EUR 2 696 382.

(4) The EGF should, therefore, be mobilised in order to provide a financial contribution for the application submitted by Ireland,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

For the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2012, the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) shall be mobilised to provide the sum of EUR 2 696 382 in commitment and payment appropriations.

Article 2

This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Done at Brussels,

For the European Parliament For the Council

The President The President

[1] OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

[2] OJ L 406, 30.12.2006, p. 1.

[3] In accordance with the third paragraph of Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 1927/2006.

[4] OJ C 139, 14.6.2006, p. 1.

[5] OJ L 406, 30.12.2006, p. 1.

[6] OJ C […], […], p. […].