Specific research programme: information technologies (1994-1998)

The Commission's amended proposal includes the amendments by the European Parliament dealing with: the deadlines for implementing the programme (the first appropriations will be committed within twelve months of the adoption of the programme at most), efforts to simplify, improve and make procedures more transparent, staff and operating costs and the reference to the financial perspectives. As far as the content of the programme is concerned, the Commission incorporated the amendments stressing the social importance of information technologies, especially: - the appropriation of information technologies by the largest possible number of European citizens; - promoting as broad an access as possible to the new information infrastructures; - relations between users/citizens and the new information society; - the contribution of the programme to the creation of new jobs thanks to new ways of organizing production and work; - taking account of users' needs and training them to use the results; - the need to facilitate the participation of SMEs with grants to cover the exploratory stage of RTD; - the need for synergisms with the "Advanced communication service technologies", "Telematics of common interest" and "Industrial and materials technologies" programmes. The Commission did not incorporate the amendments on comitology, international cooperation (extending the Commission's negotiating mandate to the countries of the Mediterranean basin) or systematic priority for SMEs when selecting projects.�