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 establishing a Community action programme to promote organisations active at European level in the field of equality for men and women
Date: 2004-02-09
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU aid, EU programme, gender equality

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

Brussels, 9.2.2004
COM(2004) 100 final

2003/0109 (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 establishing a Community action programme to promote
organisations active at European level in the field of equality for men and women

EN

  EN

2003/0109 (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 establishing a Community action programme to promote
organisations active at European level in the field of equality for men and women

1.

BACKGROUND

The proposal was submitted to the European Parliament and the Council
(document COM(2003) 279 final - 2003/0109 (COD)) on 4.6.2003.

The European Economic and Social Committee gave its opinion on 10.12.2003.

The European Parliament gave its opinion at the first reading on 20.11.2003.

The amended proposal was submitted to the Council on 16.1.2004

The Council’s common position was adopted on 6.2.2004

2.

PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION’S PROPOSAL

The  purpose  of  this  proposal  for  a  decision  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  27 May
2003 is to provide a legal basis for awarding grants to organisations active at European
level in  the  field of  equality  for  men  and  women  for  the  years  2004  and  2005.  This
decision  has been made necessary by  the  new  structure  of  the  Commission’s  budget
under the new Financial Regulation with effect from 2004. As a result, the two current
budget  headings, namely  A-3037  for the European  Women’s  Lobby  and  A-3046  for
other  organisations  active  in  the  field  of  equality  for  men  and  women,  will  be
converted into budget headings by area of activity requiring a basic instrument.

On the  same  date  of  27  May  2003,  the  Commission  adopted  six  other  proposals  for
decisions  to  provide  a  specific  basic  instrument,  from  2004  onwards,  for  grants
currently funded on the basis of administrative appropriations entered in Part A so as to
classify  them  by  area  of  activity.  A  Communication  from  the  Commission  to  the
Parliament  and  the  Council  of  27 May  2003,  COM(2003)  274  final,  explains  the
general and common approach adopted for all the proposals for decisions forming part
of this initiative.

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This  was  the  background  to  the  Commission’s  adopting,  on  27  May  2003,  its
proposal  for  a  decision  establishing  a  Community  action  programme  to  promote
organisations active at European level in  the  field  of  equality  for  men  and  women.
The specific legal basis is Article 13 (2) EC which requires the codecision procedure.

At  the  plenary  session  of  20 November  2003,  the  European  Parliament  adopted
20 amendments to the Commission’s proposal.

3.

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION

3.1.

Parliament’s amendments (first reading)

In  its  common  position,  the  Council  accepted  nine  amendments  adopted  by
Parliament and rejected eleven.

The  nine  amendments  accepted  by  the  Council  were  2,  3,  4,  5,  12,  14,  16  and  27,
which  were  also  accepted  by  the  Commission  in  their  entirety  in  its  amended
proposal for a decision.

As in the Commission’s amended proposal, the Council’s common position partially
accepted amendment 22, on condition that the term “grants for action” was added.

Amendments  6,  7,  8,  9,  10,  11,  19  and  20  were  rejected  in  the  Commission’s
amended proposal for a decision and in the common position.

The common  position rejected  Parliament’s amendments 13, 17  and  18,  which  had
been accepted by the Commission in its amended proposal.

The  Council’s  common  position  is  therefore  closely  in  line  with  the  Commission’s
amended proposal, the only difference being with regard to amendments 13, 17 and
18 mentioned above.

The  Commission  accepts  amendment  13  not  being  included,  which  means  that  the
term  “reconciling”  rather  than  “coordinating”  family  life  and  work  is  kept  in  the
proposal  for  a  decision.  “Reconciling”  was  originally  chosen  by  the  Commission
because it was the term used in  all its documents relating to this sphere. Moreover,
the amendment was intended to add, by way of illustration, a series of specific areas
where activities could be funded, and it could be dispensed with.

The Commission accepts amendment 17 not being included, as it is intended solely
to  rectify  an  error  in  presentation  in  the  proposal  for  a  decision.  Since  the  Council
has changed the layout of the annex in the proposal for a decision by mentioning the
provisions  relating  to  organisations  active  at  European  Union  level  in  the  field  of
equality in general first and the provisions concerning the European Women’s Lobby
in particular second, the amendment no longer makes any sense.

The Commission is willing to accept amendment 18 not being included. On the one
hand, the addition of the term “non-profit making” is not absolutely necessary, since
Article 109(2) of the Financial Regulation provides that grants may not be intended
to  occasion  or  result  in  a  profit  accruing  to  the  beneficiary.  On  the  other  hand,
keeping the part of the sentence “an objective which is part of the European Union's
policy  in  the  field  of  gender  equality"  initially  featuring  in  the  Commission’s

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proposal for a decision is more consistent with the general objective of the European
Union’s policy in this area.

3.2.

The  new  provisions  introduced  by  the  Council  and  the  Commission’s  position
thereon

–  The  common  position  moves  the  explicit  references  to  the  European  Women’s
Lobby in the body of the proposal for a decision to the annex and specifies that the
operating grant is awarded directly to it after approval of its programme of work and
budget.

The Commission can accept this approach, which does not call into question the fact
that the European Women’s Lobby is a designated beneficiary receiving, without any
call for proposals, an annual operating  grant  and  which  still upholds  all  the current
practical arrangements for awarding the grant.

–  The  common  position  moves  the  provision  on  the  duration  of  the  programme  in
Article 6 in the proposal for a decision to a new paragraph 3 in Article 1.

The  Commission  shares the Council’s opinion that  simply  moving  key  parts  of  the
text of the proposal for a decision makes it more comprehensible.

4.

CONCLUSIONS / GENERAL REMARKS

The  proposed  common  position  is  acceptable  to  the  Commission,  subject  to
inclusion of the transitional clause discussed at the budget conciliation meeting of
24 November 2003.

The transitional clause 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.

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".

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