Series of guidelines for trans-European telecommunications networks

The common position of the Council largely adhered to the Commission's approach. The changes made to the original proposal mainly had the aim of taking better account of the terms of the Treaty or existing Community provisions (such as the IDA programme, the Euro-ISDN guidelines and the TEN-Transport guidelines). The Council incorporated, in whole or in part, 14 of the 22 amendments incorporated by the Commission in its amended proposal. The main amendments accepted by the Council served to: - stress the development of applications, services and networks to enable citizens and enterprises (especially SMEs) to position themselves to best advantage in the information society, drawing attention to the less developed regions; - stress the importance of Euro-ISDN as a means of communication which can already be used to carry out common-interest projects; - recall the need to coordinate trans-European projects with comparable national or regional initiatives; - propose a more concise wording for the designation of infrastructure available for the implementation of projects; - take up the idea that the implementation of trans-European networks should meet real needs, and detail the RTD programmes with which they should be coordinated; - stress needs not met by market forces alone (projects of collective interest); - specify the nature of the work programme drafted by the Commission; - state that the new networks, whether fixed or mobile, could be used for generic services; - devote special attention to the social consequences of teleworking; - add further details regarding cultural and linguistic heritage (inserting the artistic aspect of heritage and the aspect 'dissemination of local content in local languages'). The Council was unable to accept the EP's amendments seeking to: - stress the need to use in synergetic fashion all forms of aid which could support TEN activities; - stress the importance of having non-proprietary tools for the development of applications; - add to the point on 'distance education and training' (defining vocational training policy); - add to the point on 'telematics and transport' elements which the EP regarded as having priority; - add further details to the point on 'telematics services for the job market'; - insert clearly the transnational character of projects. �