Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision no 1720/2006/EC establishing an Action programme in the field of lifelong learning COM(2008) 61 final — 2008/0025 (COD)
Date: 2008-05-29
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU programme, action programme, continuing education, continuing vocational training, economic and social cohesion, education, vocational training

30.8.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 224/115

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the Proposal for a decision of the
European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision no 1720/2006/EC establishing an
Action programme in the field of lifelong learning

COM(2008) 61 final — 2008/0025 (COD)

(2008/C 224/26)

On 6 March 2008 the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social
Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the

Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Decision no 1720/2006/EC estab-
lishing an Action programme in the field of lifelong learning.

The Section for Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship, which was responsible for preparing the
Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 7 May 2008. The rapporteur was Ms Le Nouail-
Marlière.

At its 445th plenary session, held on 28-29 May 2008 (meeting of 29 May), the European Economic and
Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 80 votes to one with no abstentions.

1. Conclusions

1.1
The EESC supports this step, endorses the present proce-
dure and recommends that the Commission also undertake to
inform the Programme Committee and the European Parliament
immediately of any decisions it might
take under amended
Article 9.1 of Decision 1720/2006/EC.

The Commission undertook to inform the Programme
2.3
Committee and the European Parliament without delay of any
selection decisions not subject to the management procedure.
The Commission issued a declaration on this interinstitutional
agreement, addressed to the Council and the European Parlia-
ment.

2. Simplification of the grant allocation procedures in the

various multi-annual programmes

2.1
This proposal is part of a series of four proposals aimed
at making the rules more flexible on the allocation of grants
involving small sums, which are set down in the following four
multi-annual programmes for the 2007-2013 period:

— ‘Youth in action’

— ‘Culture’

— ‘Europe for citizens’ and

— the current
learning’.

‘Action programme in the field of

lifelong

assisted by

2.2
In accordance with the rules on committee procedure set
out in Article 202 of the TEC, the Council confers certain
powers on the Commission,
a Programme
Committee — exclusively comprised of representatives from
Member States and chaired by the Commission — for imple-
menting the rules which the Council lays down in co-decision
with the European Parliament;
is
legislative instruments
consulted on the implementation of
adopted in co-decision. The Commission has noted that when
the four programmes were being negotiated,
the legislator
intended only to submit i) decisions on the allocation of grants
involving substantial sums (more than EUR 1 000 000 for
projects and multi-lateral networks) and ii) politically sensitive
decisions (on cooperation and political innovation) to the comi-
tology procedure
(management procedure with a qualified
majority vote).

the European Parliament

This intention of the legislator was not properly reflected
2.4
in Decision 1720/2006/EC. All decisions on selection and on
the allocation of grants involving small sums became subject to
the consultation procedure stipulated under committee procedure
arrangements.

Consultation of

2.5
the Programme Committee and the
European Parliament entails submitting the selection decision to
the Programme Committee for examination, taking account of
its opinion and informing the Parliament, which has to notify
the Commission of
involving
consultation and the exchange of written responses, generates
jeopardising
major delays
numerous projects and considerably reducing the effectiveness
of the annual programmes.

its agreement. This procedure,

allocation and risks

in grant

2.6
‘Ad hoc arrangements’ have been worked out to date
between the Commission, Programme Committee and the Euro-
pean Parliament, with a view to cutting back the time involved
in Commission selection decisions on grant allocation.

The Commission nevertheless feels that these temporary
2.7
solutions cannot continue to be used and is proposing
amending the rules laid down when these programmes were set
up. This would entail
i) doing away with the obligation to
submit decisions on the allocation of grants involving small
sums to the consultation procedure and ii) permitting the
Commission to adopt decisions on grant allocation without the
assistance of a Committee, replacing it with a simple informa-
tion procedure.

C 224/116

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.8.2008

3. General comments

3.1
These proposals should allow the four multi-annual
programmes on education, youth and culture to function more
smoothly.

In previous opinions,

3.2
the EESC has encouraged the
Commission: to simplify access to programmes and grants for
any bodies submitting projects; to operate more closely along-
side Member States so as to encourage them to consult other
organisations when laying down annual guidelines; to shorten
the time involved in allocating grants and; not to jeopardise the
implementation of projects, inter alia by allowing the selection
decisions to take too long; these sometimes take so long that
feasibility studies are out of date because they are carried out
too far in advance of projects being implemented.

4. Specific comments

Given the comments made in points (9), (11), (15) and (17) of
the
the explanatory memorandum of

the decision in hand,

EESC recommends that, for the purposes of transparency, good
governance and public information, the Commission reiterate its
declared undertaking to inform the Programme Committee and
the European Parliament immediately of any decisions it might
take under amended Article 9.1 of Decision 1720/2006/EC.

The EESC recommends that the new Article 9.1(a) (see Article 1
‘…it shall
of the proposed Decision) be amended as follows:
adopt these decisions without the assistance of a committee and
shall
immediately inform the Programme Committee and European
Parliament thereof.’

The EESC notes that the Commission is not proposing this addi-
tion, because it feels that i) this would amend the proposal in
such a way that it would no longer be in keeping with the
committee procedure rules governed by Article 202 of the TEC
and ii) the explanatory memorandum of the present decision is
binding enough here.

Brussels, 29 May 2008.

The President

of the European Economic and Social Committee

Dimitris DIMITRIADIS

Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on The advantages and benefits of the
euro: Time for assessment

(2008/C 224/27)

On 27 September 2007, the European Economic and Social Committee, acting under Rule 29(2) of its
Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on

The advantages and benefits of the euro: Time for assessment.

The Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion, which was responsible
for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 30 April 2008. The rapporteur
was Mr Burani.

At its 445th plenary session, held on 28 and 29 May 2008 (meeting of 29 May), the European Economic
and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 130 votes to none with three abstentions.

1. Conclusions and recommendations

Ten years on from the introduction of

the single
1.1
currency, the EESC has decided to take stock of the benefits
brought by the euro for individuals and businesses: not so much
the economic and monetary benefits — for there are econo-
mists, politicians and media commentators to do that — but
rather from the point of view of users. In other words, a
decade of experience has shown that the euro has proved its
worth and that
this prestigious, stable
currency has enabled Europe to hold its own internationally, but
how do users see the single currency?

the introduction of

1.2
This opinion takes as its starting point an overview of
the benefits brought by the introduction of the euro: a mixture

of light and the shade cast by the international economic situa-
tion. It focuses on the results of the periodic Eurobarometer
surveys ascertaining whether and to what extent the European
public appreciates these benefits.

1.3
The results are encouraging in many countries, but in
some others a large proportion of those interviewed still say
that they find the ‘new’ currency hard to use, that they calculate
prices in the old national currency and that they blame the euro
for higher prices, and only half feel that, ultimately, the intro-
duction of the single currency has boosted economic growth.
Basically, the survey reveals that not always, in all countries, has
the euro been enough of a success with the people.