Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 189B(2)(d) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendment to the Council's common position regarding the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision amending Decision 819/95/EC establishing the Community action programme Socrates
Date: 1997-11-20
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU financing, EU programme, European cooperation, education policy

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels,  20.11.1997 
COM(97) 636 final 

97/0103  (COD) 

OPINION  OF THE  COMMISSION 
pursuant to  Article  189 b  (2)  (d)  of  the  EC Treaty, 
on  the European Parliament's  amendment 
to the  Council's  common  position  regarding  the 

proposal  for a 
EUROPEAN  PARLIAMENT  AND  COUNCIL  DECISION 

amending Decision 819/95/EC establishing 
the Community action programme 
SOCRATES 

f 

Decision 819/95/EC of the EP and the Council of  14.3.95, OJ No L 87/10 of 20.4.95. 

1.  Pursuant to Article  189B, par. 2(d) of the EC Treaty, the Commission  must  deliver 
an  opinion  on  the  Parliament's  proposal  adopted  at  the  second  reading  on  23 
October  1997 for an amendment to the Council's common position of 22 September 
1997. 

2.  The  Commission  is  gratified  by  the  Parliament's  support  for  the  Commission 
proposal  to  increase  the  financial  resources  of this programme,  which  is  generally 
considered to be a key instrument in the strengthening of the European dimension of 
education, the  improvement  of  European  human resources, and  in bringing  the  EU 
closer to its citizens. Socrates also plays a major  role in the pre-accession  context by 
gradually  opening  up to the associated  countries of Central and  Eastern  Europe and 
Cyprus. 

3. 

4. 

In  its  amended  proposal  of  26  June  19972  the  Commission  had  taken  account  of 
most of the amendments  tabled  by the Parliament  at the first reading with  regard  to 
the  recitals  of  the  decision.  The  Council  very  broadly  followed  in  its  common 
position  the  proposals  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Commission  with 
regard  to  the  recitals,  which  set  out  the  grounds  for  a  substantial  increase  in  the 
programme's  financial  resources.  In  its  opinion  of  26  September  1997  on  the 
Council's  common  position3  the Commission  accordingly  stressed  that  the  scale of 
the  increase  proposed  by  the  Council,  viz.  ECU  25  million,  is  well  below  that 
required to enable the programme to continue to attain its objectives. 

In  the  explanatory  statement  supporting  the  proposal  for  an  amendment  to  the 
decision  establishing  the  programme,  the  Commission  stated  that  had  the  overall 
budget context been  more  favourable  it would not have hesitated  to propose a much 
bigger increase. However, in view of the continuing need i'or budgetary  restraint, the 
Commission  feels  that  its proposal  for an increase of ECU 50 million  is reasonable. 
It  cannot  therefore  as  things  currently  stand  accept  the  amendment  tabled  by  the 
European  Parliament  at  the  second  reading  with  regard  to  the  Council's  common 
position,  as  this  amendment  seeks  an  increase  of  ECU  100 million,  i.e.  twice  that 
proposed by the Commission. 

5.  The Commission  is prepared  to play to the  full  role  given  to  it  by  the  Treaty  with 
regard to the conciliation  procedure which  lies ahead  if the Council  does not  accept 
the Parliament's amendment.  It will actively endeavour to favour  a reconciliation  of 
the  respective  positions  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  around  the 
Commission's proposal. 

2  COM(97) 338 final, OJ No C 262/3 of 28.8.97. 

3  SEC (97)  1761  final. 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(97) 636 final 

S 

EN 

16  01 

Catalogue number  :  CB-CO-97-649-EN-C 

ISBN 92-78-28246-4 

Office  for Official  Publications of the European Communities 

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