CELEX: 51997PC0338
Language: en
Date: 1997-06-26
Title: Amended proposal for a European Parliament and Council decision amending Decision 819/95/EC establishing the Community action programme Socrates

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
                                     Brussels, 26.06.1997
                                     COM(97) 338 final
                                     97/0103 (COD)
                  Amended proposal for a
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DECISION
         amending Decision 819/95/EC establishing
             the Community action programme
                       SOCRATES
(presented by the Commission pursuant to Article 189 a (2)
                    of the EC-Treaty)
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                               EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
1.       Introduction
1.1      On 14 March 1997, the Commission presented a proposal for a decision ^ pursuant to
         Articles 126 and 127 of the EC Treaty, involving a new Parliament-Council codecision
         procedure, for the purpose of amending the decision establishing the Community action
         programme SOCRATES^. The only amendment proposed is that the programme's
         financial framework be enlarged. The Commission proposes an increase of ECU 50
         million, bringing the total for the period 1995-99 to ECU 900 million rather than ECU
         850 million. The Commission proposal was submitted to the European Parliament and
         the Council on 14 March 1997.
1.2      The Economic and Social Committee issued its opinion on 28 May 1997^, in which it
         underlined the importance of the programme, expressed the view that programmes
         which bring together the citizens of the EU should be given priority financing even in
         periods of budgetary constraints and welcomed the fact that the Commission was
         proposing an increase in the financial framework, although it considered that the
         proposed increase was insufficient (no alternative figure was proposed).
1.3      The Council has asked the Committee of the Regions to deliver its opinion by 19
         September 1997.
1.4      The European Parliament adopted its opinion at the first reading on 12 June 1997^. This
         opinion contains six amendments to the wording originally proposed by the
         Commission. Five of these concern the recitals referring to the Decision. One
         amendment relates to the Decision as such and provides for an increase of ECU 100
         million in the financial framework, rather than ECU 50 million.
1.5      The Commission is able to accept two of the amendments concerning the recitals. The
         other three are acceptable in principle and/or subject to rewording, but have been
         included in the Commission's amended proposal. The amendment concerning the
         Decision itself cannot be accepted at this stage.
1.6      The reasons for the position adopted by the Commission regarding these amendments
         are set out in section 3 below. Annex I contains the complete text of the original
         proposal (left-hand column) and the amended proposal (right-hand column).
    COM(97) 99 final, 14.3.1997.
    Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council No 819/95/EC of 14 March 1995 establishing
    the Community action programme SOCRATES, OJ L 87, 20.4.1995, p. 10.
    SOC/337, ESC 593/97 - 97/0103 COD, 28.5.1997.
 ---pagebreak--- 2.       Aim of the proposal
The programme spans the period 1995-99 and is applicable to the 15 Member States as well as
the partner countries in the European Economic Area. Its overall aim is to promote quality by
increasing mobility, encouraging cooperation and strengthening the European dimension in all
areas of education.
SOCRATES is regarded as a cornerstone of a strategy to bring Europe closer to its citizens on
the one hand and to improve the quality of human resources with a view to promoting European
competitiveness and stimulating employment on the other. It was warmly received by the
education community in Europe. SOCRATES is also a mainspring for the process of
Community enlargement in the broad sense through the pre-accession extension of strategically
important programmes to the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus.
The financial framework was the subject of a conciliation procedure between the European
Parliament and the Council when the Decision establishing the programme was adopted, with
the figure adopted falling far short of the Commission's original proposal. At the end of the
conciliation procedure, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed that:
 "Two years after the launching of the programme, the European Parliament and the Council
will assess the results achieved by the programme. To that end, the Commission will submit to
them a report accompanied by any proposal which it considers appropriate, including any
concerning the funding set by the legislator within the meaning of the Joint Declaration of 6
March 1995$. The European Parliament and the Council will act on those proposals at the
earliest opportunity "°.
On the basis of the mandate contained in the Joint Declaration, the Commission has produced a
report analysing the first two years of SOCRATES (1995 and 1996)7, accompanied by the
proposal for a decision to modify the financial framework of the programme with the aim of
enabling it to continue to achieve its objectives.
3.       Commission position regarding the amendments proposed by the European
         Parliament (first reading)
3.1      Amendments accepted
         The Commission accepts amendments 1, 2 (subject to a slight rewording), 3 (subject to a
         slight rewording) and 5 (subject to a slight rewording). The reasons for this position are
         the following:
      • Amendment 1: This amendment recalls the Commission's initiatives which tended to
         confirm the need for increased financing for European cooperation in the field of
         education. The final part of the amendment concerns the priority which the European
         Parliament would like to give to Community measures in the education sector. The
         Commission has itself now demonstrated that it attaches priority to this sector by
     Declaration by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 March 1995 (95/C
     293/03), OJ C 293, 8.11.1995, p. 4.
     Joint Statement by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission concerning Decision
     819/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 1995 establishing the
     Community action programme 'SOCRATES', OJ L 132, 16.6.1995, p. 18.
     COM(97) 99 final, 14.3.1997.
                                                   3
 ---pagebreak---        proposing an increase in the financial framework for SOCRATES despite the extremely
       low rate of increase provided for in the budgetary proposals concerning heading 3 of the
       financial perspective. The amendment nevertheless refers only to resolutions of the
       European Parliament.
      Amendment 2: This amendment tends to back up the Commission's own arguments
      concerning the effects of the funding for the programme being maintained at its current
       level or not being increased sufficiently, particularly as regards the continuous reduction
      of funding. This amendment has therefore been accepted with a minor modification
       giving a slightly more balanced analysis of the implications of a failure to increase
       funding.
      Amendment 3: Given that the Commission itself, in its recitals, drew attention to the
       possible impact on the budget (for establishments in the Member States) of SOCRATES
       being extended to include associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus
      - an impact which will also have to be absorbed during the next budgetary period - this
      amendment was accepted with a slight change to its wording. If the costs relating
      directly to the participation of persons and institutions from the new countries are to be
      covered by the contributions from each participating country, cooperation with the new
      countries could in practice result in substantial costs for the institutions in the countries
      currently participating in the SOCRATES programme. The amendment was modified
      slightly in order to above all take account of the fact that the opening-up of the
      programme has not yet taken effect; this is planned for the second half of 1997.
    • Amendment 5: This amendment makes a relevant reference to the budgetary
      arrangements allowing the increase proposed in the draft Decision submitted by the
      Commission to be financed. It was therefore accepted (subject to a slight rewording).
3.2    Amendments acceptable in principle
       Amendment 4 seems to be acceptable in principle. However, the Commission considers
      that the arguments contained in it are sufficiently encompassed by amendments 2 and 3,
       each of which the Commission accepted with minor modifications. It has therefore
       rejected amendment 4.
3.3   Amendments not accepted
      While the Commission considers that the additional recitals strengthen its arguments in
      favour of an increase in the financial framework, it is unable at this stage to accept
      amendment 6 concerning an increase in the additional funding. The Commission is quite
      aware of the fact that the financial perspective in force would in principle have allowed a
      proposal going well beyond the increase in funding provided for in its proposal.
      However, the Commission considers that, at a time of continuing budgetary constraints,
      it would be premature to propose a larger sum.
4.    Conclusion
The Commission recommends that the European Parliament and the Council approve the
amended proposal set out in Annex I.
 ---pagebreak---                                       Amended proposal for a
                                                                                  ANNEX I
                 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND COUNCIL DECISION
                            amending Decision 819/95/EC establishing
                                 the Community action programme
                                          SOCRATES
                   Initial proposal 8                            Amended proposal
   Decision of the European Parliament and           Unchanged
                     of the Council
amending Decision 819/95/EC9 establishing the
Community action programme Socrates
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND Unchanged                                               ~~
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN
UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Community, and in particular Articles
126 and 127 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the
Commission10,
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic
and Social Committee11,
Having regard to the opinion of the Committee
of the Regions12,
Acting in accordance with the procedure
referred to in Article 189b of the Treaty13,
Whereas Decision 819/95/EC of the European            Unchanged
Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 1995
establishes the Community action programme
SOCRATES;
Whereas Article 7 of this Decision provides for       Unchanged
a financial framework for the implementation of
the programme during the period 1.1.1995 -
 31.12.1999;
 Whereas the Joint Statement by the European
 Parliament, the Council and the Commission
 concerning the above-mentioned Decision of 14
 March 1995 provides that two years after the
 launching of the programme, the European
 Parliament and the Council will assess the
 results achieved by the programme, and that to
 8    OJC 113, 11.4.1997.
 9    O J L 8 7 , 20.4.1997, p. 10.
  10
  11
  12
  13
 ---pagebreak--- this end the Commission will submit to them a
 report accompanied by any proposals which it
considers appropriate, including any concerning
the funding set by the legislator within the
meaning of the Joint Declaration of 6 March
 199514, and that the European Parliament and
the Council will act on those proposals at the
earliest opportunity15;
                                                           Whereas the European Parliament called for an
                                                           increase in the allocation for the programme in
                                                           its resolution on the Commission White Paper
                                                           on Education and Training "Teaching and
                                                           learning; towards the learning society'
                                                           (CQM(95)0590)16 and its resolution on the
                                                           Commission Green Paper on "Education z
                                                           Training = Research: the obstacles to
                                                           transnational mobility" (COM(96W462V7:
                                                            whereas, in its resolution on the guidelines for
                                                            the 1998 budgetary procedure18, it included
                                                            encouragement for youth and education
                                                            programmes among its priorities:
 Whereas the report submitted by the Unchanged
 Commission19 pursuant to the above-mentioned
 Joint Statement has set out the outstanding
 results achieved by the programme during the
 first two years following its adoption;
 Whereas the programme has been particularly Unchanged
 well received in the educational community,
  and there is a need to maintain its forward
  momentum towards achieving its objectives;
  Whereas the demand for support is already                  Unchanged
  many times higher than the available resources
  and is continuing to rise;
  Whereas there is a need to ensure that a critical          Whereas the success of the programme would
  mass of funding is maintained, thereby ensuring            be seriously compromised both if the
  that the quality of the collaborative activities to        percentage of projects supported were to be
                                                             reduced and if the annual average amount of
   14   Declaration by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 March 1995 on the
        incorporation of financial provisions into legislative acts (95/C 293/03), OJ C 293, 8.11.1995, p. 4.
   15   OJL 132, 16.6.1995, p. 18.
   16   (EP 257.132, 12.3.97, p. 47).
   17   (EP 259.215, 14.5.1997, p 66).
   18   (EP 225.133, 13.3.1997, p. 78).
   19   COM(97) 99 final, 14.3.1997.
 ---pagebreak---                                                    threshold, which would mainly disadvantage
                                                   ÛÏQS& from l££S favoured backgrounds:
                                                   whereas there is therefore a need to ensure that
                                                   a critical mass of funding is maintained;
Whereas there is a need to provide continuity of Unchanged
support for projects during their developmental
phase, while nonetheless reserving sufficient
funds to support new projects and activities,
thereby safeguarding the programme's potential
for contributing to innovation,
                                                    Whereas the associated countries of Central
                                                    and Eastern Europe and Cyprus may
                                                    participate in the programme from 1998
                                                    onwards: whereas their financial contribution
                                                    will call for a similar contribution by the
                                                    Union in order to ensure reciprocal mobility in
                                                    line with the Union's political objective.
Whereas there is a need to adjust the financial Unchanged
framework for the programme in order to
 maintain the programme's capacity to fulfil the
objectives set out in the Decision establishing
the programme,
                                                    Whereas additional         funding     can   be
                                                    incorporated within the overall allocation for
                                                    heading 3 of the financial perspective and
                                                    within the limits of the appropriations
                                                    available during the two financial years
                                                    concerned,
 HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:                           Unchanged
 Article 1
 Article 7(1) of Decision 819/95/EC of the Unchanged
 European Parliament and of the Council of 14
 March 1995 shall be replaced by the following:
 "Thefinancialframework for implementation of
 this programme for the period referred to in
 Article 1 shall be ECU 900 million."
 Article 2
 This Decision shall enter into force on the day Unchanged
 of its publication in the Official Journal of the
 European Communities.
 ---pagebreak---  ---pagebreak---                                                                   ISSN 0254-1475
                                                           COM(97) 338 final
                                             DOCUMENTS
EN                                                                         16
                                    Catalogue number : CB-CO-97-332-EN-C
                                                             ISBN 92-78-21905-3
Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
L-2985 Luxembourg
                                                 £