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 adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and the Council establishing for the period 2007-2013 the specific programme “Civil justice” as part of the General programme “Fundamental Rights and Justice”
Date: 2007-06-19
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU programme, European citizenship, access to the courts, civil procedure, fundamental rights, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 19.6.2007 
COM(2007) 348 final 

2005/0040 (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 adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Decision of the 
European Parliament and the Council establishing for the period 2007-2013 the specific 
programme “Civil justice” as part of the General programme “Fundamental Rights and 
Justice” 

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2005/0040 (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 adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Decision of the 
European Parliament and the Council establishing for the period 2007-2013 the specific 
programme “Civil justice” as part of the General programme “Fundamental Rights and 
Justice” 

1. 

BACKGROUND  

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council  
(document COM([2005])[122] final - [2005]/[040]COD): 

11 April 2005  

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

19 January 2006 

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

14 December 2006 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

12 June 2007 

2. PURPOSE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

“Civil justice” is a financing programme with the following objectives: 

(a) to promote judicial cooperation with the aim of contributing to the creation of a genuine 
European area of justice in civil matters based on mutual recognition and mutual confidence;  

(b)  to  promote  the  elimination  of  obstacles  to  the  proper  functioning  of  cross-border  civil 
proceedings in the Member States; 

(c)  to  improve  the  daily  life  of  individuals  and  businesses  by  enabling  them  to  assert  their 
rights throughout the European Union, notably by fostering access to justice;  

(d) to improve the contacts, exchange of information and networking between legal, judicial 
and  administrative  authorities  and  the  legal  professions,  including  by  way  of  support  of 
judicial  training,  with  the  aim  of  better  mutual  understanding  among  such  authorities  and 
professionals. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

The  Council  Common  Position  preserves  the  essence  of  the  original  Commission  proposal 
and takes the European Parliament’s main amendments at first reading into account. 

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The  differences  of  substance  between  the  common  position  and  the  original  Commission 
proposal are as follows: 

•  Article 4(b): a proposal for a specific project will be eligible for financing if it involves at 
least two Member States or one Member State and one acceding or applicant state (instead 
of three Member States, as originally proposed by the Commission). 

•  Article 4(d): operating grant for the whole period to the Network of the Presidents of the 
Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union and the European Network of Councils for 
the Judiciary. 

•  Article 7: access to the programme opened to international organisations. 

•  Article  10:  comitology:  the  double  committee  principle  is  introduced  (management 
committee  for  the  adoption  of  the  annual  work  programme  and  advisory  committee  for 
other questions). 

The Council Common Position is based on a compromise between the European Parliament, 
the Council and the Commission. The compromise concerns the text as a  whole, except for 
the part on comitology, where there remains a difference of opinion between the Council and 
Commission on one side and Parliament on the other. 

The  European  Parliament  passed  an  amendment  that  would  apply  the  new  committee 
procedure (regulatory procedure with scrutiny);the Council and Commission consider that this 
procedure is not applicable in this case. 

4. 

CONCLUSIONS 

The Commission accepts the common position, which incorporates the main elements of its 
original proposal and the main amendments adopted by the European Parliament.  

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