Agriculture, genetic resources: conservation, collection and utilisation

The committee unanimously adopted the report by Friedrich Wilhelm GRAEFE zu BARINGDORF (Greens/EFA, D) amending the proposal under the consultation procedure. The committee objected that the proposal transferred the funding of the programme from a budget article covering internal policies to the EAGGF Guarantee Section, and therefore deleted the relevant article in the proposal. It said that the EAGGF was not geared up to funding the multinational projects which the new programme was chiefly intended to promote. The committee also opposed the Commission's reduction of the Community co-financing rate from 50% (in the previous programme) to 35%. Finally, the committee called for the Commission to draw up an annual progress report on the programme and forward it to the European Parliament.�