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

The committee adopted the report by Ilda Figueirdo (EUL/NGL, P) amending the Council's common position under the codecision procedure (2nd reading). The committee reinstated a number of key amendments from first reading. These included: - increasing the funding for the programme from EUR 70m to EUR 100m; - referring in the recitals to the Council of Europe's revised Social Charter of 1996, in particular Article 30 thereof ("the right to protection against poverty and social exclusion"), and to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; - introducing a new recital referring to compatibility between the reference amount and the current financial framework; - stating that the overall aim of the programme should be to develop cooperation which would enable the EU and Member States to make a decisive impact against social exclusion and the eradication of poverty as measured by qualitative and quantitative targets agreed by the Council and the European Parliament; - specifying the need to develop comparable parameters to support such cooperation between Member States as part of the open method of coordination; - specifying that, to provide overall consistency, the Commission should also assess its policies and programmes with regard to their possible impact on poverty and social exclusion; - providing for funding of up to 90% (rather than up to 80%) of the running costs of European networks involved in the programme on combating poverty and social exclusion; - specifying the actors who should be involved in preparing the EU Round Table Conference (such as representatives of NGOs, the two sides of industry, and representatives of various EU institutions).�