9. 3. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 60/11 
II 
(Preparatory Acts) 
COMMISSION 
Proposal for a Council Decision establishing a medium-term Community action programme to 
foster the economic and social integration of the least privileged groups 
COM(88) 826 final 
(Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 3 January 1989) 
(89/C 60/15) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament, 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and 
Social Committee, 
Whereas, under Article 2 of the EEC Treaty, the task of 
the Community is to promote throughout the 
Community a harmonious development of economic 
activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an 
increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the 
standard of living and closer relations between the States 
belonging to it; 
Whereas the Council authorized the Commission on 
19 December 1984 to implement specific action to 
combat poverty (') which will come to an end on 31 
December 1988 and this action should be continued and 
broadened; 
Whereas the continuing economic and social exclusion 
of a growing number of people in the Community is 
incompatible with the attainment of the abovementioned 
goal; 
Whereas insecurity in relation to employment, a 
phenomenon which has grown in recent years, is also 
incompatible with this goal; 
(') OJ No L 2, 3. 1. 1985, p. 24. Whereas national economic and social policies and 
Community action in the field of employment can, by 
attacking the structural causes of this economic and 
social exclusion, make an effective contribution to the 
fight against it; 
Whereas it is necessary, in order to ensure economic and 
social cohesion, to take preventive measures against the 
short-term disruptive effects of completion of the large 
market on the social groups most at risk and optimize 
corrective measures for the groups already marginalized; 
Whereas exchanges of information and experience and 
consultation between the Member States and the 
Commission on action to combat the exclusion of the 
least privileged members of society are essential to this 
economic and social cohesion of the Community; 
Whereas the minimum amount adjudged necessary to 
fund the Community contribution, within the 
medium-term action programme for economic and 
social integration of the least privileged groups, is 
ECU 70 million for the duration of this programme. 
Whereas the Treaty does not provide the specific powers 
necessary for the adoption of this Decision, 
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: 
Article 1 
A Community action programme to foster the economic 
and social integration of the least privileged groups 
No C 60/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 9. 3. 89 
in society is hereby established for the period from 
1 January 1989 to 31 December 1993. 
Article 2 
For the purposes of this Decision the least privileged in 
economic and social terms shall be taken to be those 
individuals, families and groups of persons whose 
material, cultural and social resources are so limited as to 
exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life 
in the Member States in which they live. 
Article 3 
The aims of the action programme shall be to: 
(a) contribute to the development of preventive 
strategies for the groups at risk and of corrective 
measures to meet the needs of the very poor; 
(b) produce innovative organizational models for the 
integration of the least privileged members of society 
involving all economic and social agents; 
(c) identify the characteristics of the least privileged 
groups in society and the dynamics of the new 
processes leading to economic and social exclusion; 
(d) conduct an information, assessment and exchange of 
experience operation at Community level; 
(e) ensure overall coherence between all Community 
operations having an impact on the least privileged 
groups. 
Article 4 
With a view to achieving the aims referred to in Article 
3, the Commission may: 
(a) promote or support financially the carrying-out on 
an adequate scale of prototype schemes integrated in 
the fabric of local society. These schemes shall be 
aimed at fostering the economic and social inte­
gration of the least privileged groups through the 
coordination of local initiatives and national or 
regional policies. Members of the target population 
must, through participation in the prototype scheme, 
acquire the wherewithal for genuine integration into 
society; 
(b) promote or subsidize innovative initiatives 
undertaken, for example, by voluntary organizations 
working with certain social groups suffering from 
specific forms of isolation; 
(c) promote or support financially international coordi­
nation, the assessment of schemes, the exchange of 
knowledge and the transfer of methods, notably by 
means of exchanges of practitioners and ben­eficiaries. This function will be performed by a 
network of research and development units; 
(d) promote or support financially the improvement of 
statistical and other knowledge of the phenomenon 
— the collection and exchange on a regular basis of 
comparable data on the least privileged social groups 
in the Community. 
Article 5 
The Commission shall be responsible for implementing 
the programme. 
Article 6 
Projects relating to prototype schemes shall be submitted 
to the Commission by the national authorities in whose 
territory the schemes are to take place. These schemes 
shall be drawn up with the assistance of the public 
authorities or the relevant private bodies in the area or 
regionin question, designated by the Member State 
concerned. 
Article 7 
Projects relating to innovative initiatives shall be 
submitted to the Commission by the local or regional 
authorities, designated by the Member State concerned. 
Article 8 
All the projects referred to in Articles 6 and 7 shall form 
the subject of consultations with the Commission prior to 
their final approval. 
Projects shall be selected by the Commission after 
consulting the Committee established by Article 9. 
Article 9 
1. The Commission shall be assisted by an advisory 
committee, hereinafter referred to as 'the committee', 
comprising a representative of the Government of each 
Member State and chaired by a representative of the 
Commission. 
2. The Commission representative shall submit a draft 
of the measures to be taken to the committee. The 
committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, in 
accordance with a deadline which the chairman may set 
in the light of the urgency of the matter in question, if 
necessary following a vote. 
This opinion shall be entered in the minutes. In addition, 
each Member State make ask that its position be noted 
in the minutes. 
9. 3. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 60/13 
The Commission shall take full account of the opinion (a) 
delivered by the committee. It shall inform the committee 
of the steps it has taken to this end. 
3. The committee shall lay down its rules of 
procedure. 
(b) 
Article 10 
The dissemination and exchange of information 
concerning more especially the coordination and 
assessment of schemes and the dissemination and 
exchange of knowledge shall be organized on the 
responsibility of the Commission. 
Bef 
The Commission shall disseminate the results of 
operations carried out pursuant to this Decision using v 
such means as may be most appropriate. 
Bef 
Article 11 , 
the 
Community financial support will be granted, in the 
framework of the appropriations entered annually in the 
general budget of the European Communities for the 
implementation of the present programme, at the Thi 
following rates: the 
On 14 December 1988 the Commission submitted to the the 
Council the abovementioned proposals. Following the 
discussions in the Council in January 1989 the original 
proposal was amended as follows: 
1. the following sentence is added to the first recital: 
'whereas a reduction in areas traditionally under such 
crops would take place as a result of an increase in 
O OJ No C 6, 7. 1. 1989, p. 8. (a) for prototype schemes, the maximum rate will be 
50 % of actual expenditure within the limits of the 
assistance approved by the Commission. 
However, in exceptional cases, especially those 
located in particularly disadvantaged regions, this 
ceiling may be raised to 55 %; 
(b) for direct subsidies to innovative initiatives on the 
part of private or public bodies at regional or local 
level, the rate may be raised to 75 % of actual 
expenditure within the limits of the assistance 
approved by the Commission. 
Article 12 
Before 31 December 1992 the Commission shall present 
to the Council and the European Parliament an interim 
report on the implementation and results of the 
programme. 
Before 1 July 1994, the Commission shall present to the 
Council and the European Parliament a final report on 
the implementation and results of the programme. 
Article 13 
This Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of 
the European Communities. It shall enter into force on ... 
the production of crops which are already in surplus in 
the Community;' 
2. the second recital is replaced by the following: 
'Whereas the objective of maintaining the crops in 
question may be achieved by granting an aid per 
hectare; whereas the aid must be fixed at a level 
enabling the abovementioned objective to be 
achieved; whereas account must be taken when fixing 
the aid of measures taken in the framework of other 
existing arrangements; whereas in particular that aid 
must not be paid for areas qualifiying for aid to 
encourage the withdrawal of arable land or to Amendment to the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) introducing a special measure for 
certain grain legumes (') 
COM(89) 39 final 
(Submitted by the Commission pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC Treaty on 
16 February 1989) 
(89/C 60/16)