CELEX: 51988PC0826
Language: en
Date: 1988-12-22
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ESTABLISHING A MEDIUM-TERM COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMME TO FOSTER THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL INTEGRATION OF THE LEAST PRIVILEGED GROUPS

9. 3. 89                               Official Journal of the European Communities                            No C 60/11
                                                              II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                 COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Decision establishing a medium-term Community action programme to
                         foster the economic and social integration of the least privileged groups
                                                     COM(88) 826 final
                              (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 3 January 1989)
                                                        (89/C 60/15)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                          Whereas national economic and social policies and
                                                                  Community action in the field of employment can, by
                                                                  attacking the structural causes of this economic and
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European             social exclusion, make an effective contribution to the
Economic Community, and in particular Article 235                 fight against it;
thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                  Whereas it is necessary, in order to ensure economic and
                                                                  social cohesion, to take preventive measures against the
Having regard      to   the   opinion   of   the  European        short-term disruptive effects of completion of the large
Parliament,                                                       market on the social groups most at risk and optimize
                                                                  corrective measures for the groups already marginalized;
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and
Social Committee,
                                                                  Whereas exchanges of information and experience      and
                                                                  consultation between the Member States and            the
Whereas, under Article 2 of the EEC Treaty, the task of           Commission on action to combat the exclusion of       the
the Community is to promote throughout the                        least privileged members of society are essential to this
Community a harmonious development of economic                    economic and social cohesion of the Community;
activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an
increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the
standard of living and closer relations between the States
belonging to it;
                                                                  Whereas the minimum amount adjudged necessary to
                                                                  fund     the Community        contribution,  within   the
Whereas the Council authorized the Commission on                  medium-term action programme for economic and
19 December 1984 to implement specific action to                  social integration of the least privileged groups, is
combat poverty (') which will come to an end on 31                ECU 70 million for the duration of this programme.
December 1988 and this action should be continued and
broadened;
                                                                  Whereas the Treaty does not provide the specific powers
Whereas the continuing economic and social exclusion              necessary for the adoption of this Decision,
of a growing number of people in the Community is
incompatible with the attainment of the abovementioned
goal;
                                                                  HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Whereas insecurity in relation to employment, a
phenomenon which has grown in recent years, is also
incompatible with this goal;
                                                                                           Article 1
                                                                  A Community action programme to foster the economic
(') OJ No L 2, 3. 1. 1985, p. 24.                                 and social integration of the least privileged groups
 ---pagebreak---  No C 60/12                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  9. 3. 89
in society is hereby established for the period from                  eficiaries. This function will be performed by a
 1 January 1989 to 31 December 1993.                                  network of research and development units;
                          Article 2                               (d) promote or support financially the improvement of
                                                                      statistical and other knowledge of the phenomenon
For the purposes of this Decision the least privileged in             — the collection and exchange on a regular basis of
economic and social terms shall be taken to be those                  comparable data on the least privileged social groups
individuals, families and groups of persons whose                     in the Community.
material, cultural and social resources are so limited as to
exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life
in the Member States in which they live.                                                   Article 5
                                                                 The Commission shall be responsible for implementing
                          Article 3                              the programme.
The aims of the action programme shall be to:
                                                                                           Article 6
(a) contribute to the development of preventive
    strategies for the groups at risk and of corrective          Projects relating to prototype schemes shall be submitted
    measures to meet the needs of the very poor;                 to the Commission by the national authorities in whose
                                                                 territory the schemes are to take place. These schemes
(b) produce innovative organizational models for the             shall be drawn up with the assistance of the public
    integration of the least privileged members of society       authorities or the relevant private bodies in the area or
    involving all economic and social agents;                    regionin question, designated by the Member State
                                                                 concerned.
(c) identify the characteristics of the least privileged
    groups in society and the dynamics of the new
                                                                                           Article 7
    processes leading to economic and social exclusion;
                                                                 Projects relating to innovative initiatives shall be
(d) conduct an information, assessment and exchange of           submitted to the Commission by the local or regional
    experience operation at Community level;                     authorities, designated by the Member State concerned.
(e) ensure overall coherence between all Community
    operations having an impact on the least privileged                                    Article 8
    groups.                                                      All the projects referred to in Articles 6 and 7 shall form
                                                                 the subject of consultations with the Commission prior to
                                                                 their final approval.
                          Article 4
With a view to achieving the aims referred to in Article
                                                                 Projects shall be selected by the Commission after
3, the Commission may:
                                                                 consulting the Committee established by Article 9.
(a) promote or support financially the carrying-out on
    an adequate scale of prototype schemes integrated in
                                                                                           Article 9
    the fabric of local society. These schemes shall be
    aimed at fostering the economic and social inte-             1.    The Commission shall be assisted by an advisory
    gration of the least privileged groups through the           committee, hereinafter referred to as 'the committee',
    coordination of local initiatives and national or            comprising a representative of the Government of each
    regional policies. Members of the target population          Member State and chaired by a representative of the
    must, through participation in the prototype scheme,         Commission.
    acquire the wherewithal for genuine integration into
    society;
                                                                 2.    The Commission representative shall submit a draft
(b) promote      or    subsidize    innovative    initiatives    of the measures to be taken to the committee. The
    undertaken, for example, by voluntary organizations          committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, in
    working with certain social groups suffering from            accordance with a deadline which the chairman may set
    specific forms of isolation;                                 in the light of the urgency of the matter in question, if
                                                                 necessary following a vote.
(c) promote or support financially international coordi-
    nation, the assessment of schemes, the exchange of           This opinion shall be entered in the minutes. In addition,
    knowledge and the transfer of methods, notably by            each Member State make ask that its position be noted
    means of exchanges of practitioners and ben-                 in the minutes.
 ---pagebreak--- 9. 3. 89                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                No C 60/13
The Commission shall take full account of the opinion              (a) for prototype schemes, the maximum rate will be
delivered by the committee. It shall inform the committee                50 % of actual expenditure within the limits of the
of the steps it has taken to this end.                                   assistance approved by the Commission.
                                                                         However, in exceptional cases, especially those
3.    The committee      shall   lay down     its  rules   of            located in particularly disadvantaged regions, this
procedure.                                                               ceiling may be raised to 55 % ;
                                                                   (b) for direct subsidies to innovative initiatives on the
                         Article 10                                      part of private or public bodies at regional or local
                                                                         level, the rate may be raised to 75 % of actual
The dissemination and exchange of information                            expenditure within the limits of the assistance
concerning more especially the coordination and                          approved by the Commission.
assessment of schemes and the dissemination and
exchange of knowledge shall be organized on the
                                                                                              Article 12
responsibility of the Commission.
                                                                   Before
                                                                   Bef       31 December 1992 the Commission shall present
                                                                   to the Council and the European Parliament an interim
The Commission shall disseminate the results of
                                                                   report
                                                                      v       on the implementation and results of the
operations carried out pursuant to this Decision using
                                                                   programme.
such means as may be most appropriate.
                                                                   Before
                                                                   Bef        1 July 1994, the Commission shall present to the
                                                                   Council and the European Parliament a final report on
                         Article 11                                 ,
                                                                   the implementation and results of the programme.
                                                                   the
Community financial support will be granted, in           the
framework of the appropriations entered annually in       the                                 Article 13
general budget of the European Communities for            the
implementation of the present programme, at               the      This
                                                                   Thi Decision shall be published in the Official Journal of
following rates:                                                   the
                                                                   the European Communities. It shall enter into force on . . .
              Amendment to the proposal for a Council Regulation (EEC) introducing a special measure for
                                                   certain grain legumes (')
                                                       COM(89) 39 final
              (Submitted by the Commission pursuant to the third paragraph of Article 149 of the EEC Treaty on
                                                       16 February 1989)
                                                          (89/C 60/16)
 On 14 December 1988 the Commission submitted to the               the production of crops which are already in surplus in
 Council the abovementioned proposals. Following                   the Community;'
 discussions in the Council in January 1989 the original
 proposal was amended as follows:
                                                                    2. the second recital is replaced by the following:
                                                                        'Whereas the objective of maintaining the crops in
 1. the following sentence is added to the first recital:
                                                                        question may be achieved by granting an aid per
                                                                        hectare; whereas the aid must be fixed at a level
                                                                        enabling the abovementioned objective to be
    'whereas a reduction in areas traditionally under such              achieved; whereas account must be taken when fixing
    crops would take place as a result of an increase in                the aid of measures taken in the framework of other
                                                                        existing arrangements; whereas in particular that aid
                                                                        must not be paid for areas qualifiying for aid to
                                                                        encourage the withdrawal of arable land or to
 O OJ No C 6, 7. 1. 1989, p. 8.