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 of the Council establishing a Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level and support specific activities in the field of education and training (2004-2006)
Date: 2004-01-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU action, European association, action programme, education, education policy, educational institution, financial aid

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 9.1.2004
COM(2004) 4 final

2003/0114 (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 of the Council establishing a Community action programme to promote
bodies active at European level and support specific activities in the field of education
and training (2004-2006)

EN

  EN

2003/0114 (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 of the Council establishing a Community action programme to promote
bodies active at European level and support specific activities in the field of education
and training (2004-2006)

1.

BACKGROUND

Date  of  transmission  of  the  proposal  to  the  EP  and  the  Council
(document COM(2003)273 final – 2003/0114 (COD)):

27 May 2003

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social
Committee:

29 October 2003

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading:

6 November 2003

Date of political agreement in Council (unanimous):

24 November 2003

Date of adoption of the common position:

22 December 2003

2.

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL

This proposal, based on Articles 149 and 150 TEC, is one of seven establishing basic acts for
grants currently without a separate legal base. It proposes a multi-annual programme (2004-
2008)  for  grants  for  organisations  engaged  at  European  level  in  the  fields  of  education  and
training. The programme is divided into 3 Actions:

Action 1:
general European interest:

Grants  to  support  the  ongoing  activities  of  a  list  of  named  organisations  of

(cid:1)  College of Europe (Bruges & Natolin campuses)
(cid:1)  European University Institute, Florence
(cid:1)  European Law Academy, Trier
(cid:1)  European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht
(cid:1)  European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation
(cid:1)  International Centre for European Training
(cid:1)  European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education

2

 
Action 2:
Grants to support the ongoing activities of other European associations active
in the field of education and training. Grants, which may be annual or multi-annual, will be
awarded following a selection based on published calls for proposals.

Action 3: This is sub-divided into three sub-actions:

(cid:1)  Action 3A: Support  for  activities  in  the  field  of  higher  education  concerning  European

integration, including Jean Monnet chairs.

(cid:1)  Action 3B: Support for activities contributing to the achievement of the future objectives

of education and training systems in Europe.

(cid:1)  Action 3C: Support for training of national judges in the field of European law.

3.

3.1.

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

Consideration  of  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  Parliament  at  its  first
reading

3.1.1.

Amendments  accepted  in  full  or  in  substance  by  the  Commission  and  incorporated
into the common position

Amendment 1 to Recital 10: adds a reference to the Commission’s declaration at the time of
adoption of the new Financial Regulation that it would take into account remarks entered in
the budget in the context of implementation.

Amendment 3 to Article 4: clarifies which programme actions are implemented by means of a
call for proposals.

Amendment  12  to  the  Annex:  adds  an  obligation  on  grant  beneficiaries  to  acknowledge
publicly the source of funding.

3.1.2.

Amendments  accepted  by  the  Commission  in  principle  and  not  incorporated  in  the
common position – 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11

This  group  of  amendments  proposes  modifications  to  the  budgetary  envelope  of  the
programme  in  Article  6  and  to  the  maximum  and  minimum  percentage  distribution  of  this
envelope set out in the Annex.

As an agreement was reached by the three institutions at the budgetary  conciliation meeting
on 24 November to set the budgetary envelope at EUR 77 million (an increase of EUR 1.888
million  on  the  Commission’s  original  proposal),  and  this  sum  is  already  included  in  the
common position and is acceptable to the Commission, amendment 4 is no longer relevant.

It will be necessary to verify  after  conclusion  of  the  2004  budgetary  procedure  whether  the
maximum and minimum percentages in the annex to the Decision need to be revised to take
account of any changes to the individual budget lines in the final budget adopted for 2004. If
so, such changes can be introduced during second reading.

3

 
3.2.

Common position of the Council

The  text  of  the  common  position  is  acceptable  to  the  Commission  as  it  largely  respects  the
substance  of  the  Commission's  original  proposal  and  takes  account  of  the  amendments
proposed by the Parliament and accepted in full by the Commission.

Changes made by the Council which are integrated into the common position:

–  In  Article  1  the  duration  of  the  programme  is  reduced  from  2004-08  to  2004-06.  This
reflects  the  agreement  reached  between  the  three  institutions  at  the  trilogue  on  13
November.  The  Commission  considers  this  an  acceptable  compromise,  in  the  interest  of
rapid adoption of the legal base.

–  In Article 3 a revised provision for the participation of non-EU countries in the programme
refers  specificially  to  the  different  legal  instruments  under  which  such  participation  will
take place. This is a technical legal drafting change.

–  In  Article  6  the  budgetary  envelope  is  modified  to  EUR  77  million,  as  agreed  at  the

budgetary conciliation meeting.

–  A  new  Article  7  is  introduced,  specifying  that  the  Commission  is  responsible  for  the

implementation of the programme. This is a statement of fact.

–  In new Article 8: a requirement is added that the Commission should report annually to the
Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the programme; and reference to a
second  evaluation  report  in  2009  is  removed,  reflecting  the  reduced  duration  of  the
programme.

–  Some other drafting changes have been made that clarify the text.

The Commission accepts these modifications and additions in the common position since they
improve and clarify the initial proposal.

4.

CONCLUSION

The  Commission  considers  that  the  text  of  the  common  position  is  a  good  basis  for  a
European Parliament and Council decision.

The proposed common position is therefore acceptable to the Commission, subject to revision
if necessary of the maximum and minimum percentages set out in the annex (see 3.1.2 above)
and  subject  to  inclusion  of  the  transitional  clauses  discussed  at  the  budget  conciliation
meeting of 24 November 2003.

The transitional clauses should be worded as follows:

“For  grants  awarded  in  2004,  it  will  be  possible  for  the  period  of  eligibility  of
expenditure  to  start  on  1  January  2004,  provided  that  the  expenditure  does  not
precede the date on which the grant application was lodged or the date on which the
beneficiary’s budget year starts.

4

 
During  2004,  in  the  case  of  beneficiaries  whose  budgetary  year  starts  before
1 March, an exception may be granted to the obligation to sign the grant agreement
within the first four months of the start of the beneficiary’s budget year, as referred
to in Article 112, paragraph 2 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002
on  the  Financial  Regulation  applicable  to  the  general  budget  of  the  European
Communities. In this case, the grant agreement should be signed by 30 June 2004 at
the latest.”

5