Social exclusion: Community action programme 2001-2005 to encourage cooperation between Member States

The Commission can accept five of the fifteen amendments proposed by Parliament, in full, in spirit or in part. These include: - the reference to the Charter on Fundamental Rights in addition to the reference to the Social Charter of the Council of Europe. - the reference to the compatibility of the budget with the current financial perspective. - the importance of comparable indicators/parameters at the level of the objectives of the programme, which is in line with the Lisbon, Nice and Stockholm Council conclusions. Rephrasing is suggested. - the proposal to enhance the dialogue with all levels - the reference to a 90% financing ceiling instead of an 80% one and in exceptional circumstances only. The remaining amendments were rejected, including: - the proposal to add to the list of relevant Community tasks "solidarity among Member States". - the proposal that targets should be agreed by Council and Parliament. The conclusions of Lisbon and Nice refer to the Council only. Amendments seeking to strengthen the role of the European Parliament in the open method of co-ordination. The institutional scope of these amendments extends beyond the programme which is but an instrument in the open method of co-ordination. - the proposal to open funding under the programme to innovative projects with a European added value in combating social exclusion. The aim of the project does not include the funding of actions on the ground. - the assessment of policy impact. This goes beyond the scope of the programme. - the proposal to name the actors to be consulted in the preparation of the annual round table confenrece. This risks being restrictive, incomplete and less flexible. - the Commission maintains the budget of 70 million Euros, which it considers appropriate and consistent with the availability of human resources.�