CELEX: 51984PC0379
Language: en
Date: 1984-07-18
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON SPECIFIC COMMUNITY ACTION TO COMBAT POVERTY

No C 20 8 /10                          Official Journal of the European Communities                               8.8.84
                   Proposal for Council Decision on specific Community action to combat poverty
                                                     COM(84)     379final
                              (Submitted to the Council by the Commission on 19 July 1984)
                                                       (84/C 208/12)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN                                       1987, 1988 and 1989, the Commission may, in order
COMMUNITIES,                                                      to provide the Member States and the Community
                                                                  with concrete information,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the
European Economic Community, and in particular
Article 235 thereof,                                              (a) promote or provide financial assistance for
                                                                      various types of measures (research, seminars,
                                                                      public awareness campaigns, etc.)
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                      — which test and develop new methods of
                                                                          helping persons beset by or threatened with
Having regard to the opinion of the               European                poverty in the Community,
Parliament,
                                                                      — which are drawn up and carried out as far as
                                                                          possible with the participation of the persons
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                          concerned,
Social Committee,
                                                                      — which are of significance throughout the
                                                                          Community in that they correspond to
Whereas under Article 2 of the Treatly the task of the                    problems common to several Member States;
Community is to promote throughout the Community
a harmonious development of economic activities, a
continuous and balanced expansion, an increase in                 (b) promote, provide financial assistance for or carry
stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of                  out studies which, in the context referred to
living and closer relations between the States                        above, are aimed at improving understanding of
belonging to it;                                                      the nature, causes, extent and mechanics of
                                                                      poverty in the Community and collecting on a
                                                                      regular basis comparable data on poverty in the
Whereas the persistence of poverty within               the           Community;
Community is incompatible with this objective;
Whereas      the    instability    of   employment,       a       (c) promote or provide financial assistance for the
phenomenon which has worsened in recent years, is                     dissemination and exchange of knowledge, and
equally incompatible with this objective;                             the transfer of innovative approaches between
                                                                      Member States.
Whereas national economic and social policies and
Community action in the field of employment can, by               2.    For the purposes of this Decision,
attacking the structural causes of poverty, make an
effective contribution to the fight ^against it;
                                                                  — the poor shall be taken to mean persons or groups
                                                                      of persons who have inadequate available
Whereas in addition to anti-poverty measures which                    resources and an uncertain social status and are
may be implemented in connection with the                             excluded from the dominant (material and
establishment of the various Community policies,                      cultural) way of life;
more specific Community action is necessary to
achieve the objective referred to above;
                                                                  — resources shall be taken to mean income in cash,
                                                                      goods and services available in the public and
Whereas the Treaty does not provide the powers
                                                                      private sectors;
necessary for such action,
                                                                  — extremely underprivileged areas shall be taken to
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
                                                                      mean all those regions whose synthetic index, as
                                                                      shown in the list prepared by the Commission
                         Article 1                                    (Doc. COM(84) 40 final of 13. 3. 1984), is 1
                                                                      standard deviation below the Community average,
1.    Within the limits of the appropriations entered                 as well as Greenland, the French overseas
to this end in the Community budgets for 1985, 1986,                  departments, and all regions of Greece.
 ---pagebreak--- 8.8.84                             Official Journal of the European Communities                          No C 208/11
                         Article 2                                                    Article 4
                                                              The Commission shall obtain the agreement of the
Community financial assistance for research projects          Member State or States on whose territory the
may not exceed 50 % of the amount of the estimated            research project or study is to be carried out.
cost, provided that this amount has been actually
spent. However, this limit may be raised to 70 % in                                   Article 5
the case of extremely underprivileged areas.
                                                              1.    The Commission shall consult the repres-
                                                              entatives of the Governments of the Member States
For other types of activity, financial assistance may         and, where appropriate, the coordinators for the
exceed 50 % of the estimated cost provided that this          themes to be dealt with and independent experts on
amount has been actually spent, where such activities         all    matters     of  importance      concerning  the
are of excpetional interest for all or part of the            implementation of this Decision.
Community.                                                    2.    The Commission shall arrange for the body
                                                              responsible for each type of action in question to
                                                              report back to it at regular intervals on the progress
                         Article 3                            or outcome of the action and to convey any other
                                                              information which the Commission considers appro-
                                                              priate.
1.    Research projects and studies for which
Community financial assistance has been requested
                                                                                      Article 6
shall be forwarded to the Commission by the Member
State on whose territory the projects are to be carried       At the end of 1987, the Commission shall submit to
out.                                                          the Council and the European Parliament an interim
                                                              report on the first available results of the various
                                                              operations carried out with financial assistance from
2.    The Commission shall inform the Member State            the Community.
concerned of its decision to grant or refuse the
financial assistance requested.                                                       Article 7
                                                              This Decision shall be published in the Official
3.    Both public and private bodies shall be eligible        Journal of the European Communities. It shall take
for financial assistance.                                     effect on the fifth day following its publication.