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 creating the Youth in Action programme for the period 2007-2013
Date: 2006-08-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, European citizenship, cooperation policy, economic and social cohesion, young person, youth movement, youth policy

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 28.8.2006 
COM(2006) 465 final 

2004/0152 (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 creating the Youth in 
Action programme for the period 2007-2013 

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   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
2004/0152 (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 creating the Youth in 
Action programme for the period 2007-2013 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2004) 471 final – 2004/0152(COD)): 

14 July 2004 

Date of the opinion of the Committee of the Regions: 

17 November 2004 

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee 

10 March 2005 

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

25 October 2005 

Date of the revised proposal of the Commission 
(document COM(2006) 228 final):  

Date of adoption of the common position: 

24 May 2006 

24 July 2006 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  Youth  in  Action  programme  will  primarily  aim  to  promote  experiences  of  European 
citizenship  by  young  people  by  offering  them  ways  and  means  to  make  it  more  concrete 
through various forms of active engagement at all levels.  

It  should  also  seek  to  promote  solidarity  between  young  people,  inter  alia,  in  order  to 
strengthen social cohesion in the Union and to promote mutual understanding of young people 
in different countries, including Partner Countries outside the European Union. It should also 
promote  the  sense  of  initiative,  the  creativity  and  the  entrepreneurial  spirit  of  young  people 
and  to  make  it  possible  for  them  to  acquire  the  competences  essential  to  their  personal  and 
professional development.  

Finally, it should contribute to developing the quality of support systems for youth activities 
and  the  ability  of  youth  organisations  to  foster  youth  activities  and  to  promote  European 
cooperation on youth policy. The avowed aim is to maximise the impact of Community action 
at national, regional and local levels whilst fully abiding by the principle of  subsidiarity. In 
order  to  achieve  these  aims,  the  programme  will  have  five  separate  and  mutually 
complementary strands. 

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3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

The  common  position  was  adopted  on  24  July  2006  by  unanimity.  The  Commission  can 
endorse  it  because  it  considers  it  an  appropriate  compromise  which  is  largely  based  on  the 
amended  Commission  proposal,  which  itself  accepted  a  large  number  of  the  amendments 
made by the European Parliament in first reading and by the Council in the partial political 
agreement.  Furthermore  the  amendments  to  the  revised  Commission  proposal  reflect  an 
agreement reached between the three institutions in view of a rapid adoption of the decision 
establishing the programme. 

In relation to the amended Commission proposal, only a few slight changes of substance have 
been made: 

a) the minimum amount to be allocated to Action 3 of the Programme (Youth in the World) is 
fixed at the level of 6% instead of 4% in the amended Commission proposal; 

b) the  monitoring  of  the  agreement  with  the  European  Youth  Forum,  including  the  annual 
work  plan  and  the  annual  report  of  the  Forum,  falls  under  the  remit  of  the  management 
procedure ("comitology"). 

As regards the increase of the minimum allocation to Action 3, it can be noted that it reduces 
only  slightly  the  remaining  margin  to  be  allocated  to  the  various  strands  of  the  programme 
according to the annual priorities (22% instead of 24%). 

The  Commission  notes  that  the  equivalent  of  the  financial  envelope  of  EUR  785  million  in 
2004  prices  referred  to  in  the  Council  common  position  (Article  13)  is  EUR  885  million  in 
current prices. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission considers that the common position adopted on 24 July 2006 by unanimity 
is in line with the essential objectives and underlying approach of its proposal. It notes that the 
Chair  of  the  EP  Culture  and  Education  Committee  has  indicated  in  a  letter  to  the  Council 
Presidency  of  26  June  2006  that  if  the  common  position  was  adopted  as  such  he  would 
recommend  to  the  Committee  to  approve  the  common  position  in  second  reading.  The 
Commission can therefore support the common position which reflects the agreement reached 
between the three institutions. 

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