Education and training : grants to bodies active at European level, 2004-2006 action programme

The committee adopted the report by Doris PACK (EPP-ED, D) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure. It wanted the International Federation of Europe Houses (FIME) to be added to the list of specified beneficiary organisations under Action 1 on the grounds that its activities are essentially educational in character and should therefore be financed from the education and culture budget rather than from the press and communication budget as at present. The committee also called for the programme's overall budget for the period 2004-2008 to be increased from EUR 129.62 million to EUR 149.92 million for a number of reasons, including the need to take account of the addition of FIME, the need for extra funding for technical assistance and the need to build in a 2% increase for the 2004 funds, which the Commission had based on funding for 2003 without allowing for inflation. A number of amendments were adopted adjusting the proposed breakdown of funds between the different Actions. Lastly, in the interests of transparency, MEPs said that any beneficiary of a grant from the EU budget should indicate this in a prominent place such as a website homepage or an annual report.�