Community action programme 1997-1998 in the fields of books and reading, ARIANE

In its amended proposal, the Commission took over in full or in part 32 of the European Parliament's amendments. However, 10 amendments were rejected concerning comitology (Amendments Nos 45 and 27), the scope of the programme (Amendments Nos 9, 14 and 40 on the recognition of the status of translators and encouraging electronic editions) or because they exceeded Ariane's modest budget (Amendments Nos 38 and 48 on the promotion of translated literary works and support for reading for blind persons). Amendment No 21 was not taken over as it was considered to be redundant (restatement of the terms of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 March 1995). Amendments Nos 34 and 35 could not be accepted as they affected the general direction of the programme, which, in supporting translation, gave precedence to the cultural dimension (such as the quality of works) over all others (for example, the amendment aimed at giving priority to editors who had not previously received Community grants for translation). Most of the amendments accepted by the Commission were taken over as they were adopted by the EP or were qualified slightly: - change in the title ("through translation"); - promotion of a European identity and Europe's influence; - complementarity with audiovisual techniques (information society): Ariane should be thought of as a first step towards a Community policy to promote books; - increasing cooperation with third countries and synergy with other international organisations; - as regards transparency: report on the synergies developed by the Member States and the promotion of literature in the less widely used languages; - as regards the measures themselves: inclusion of the EP amendments concerning: . the languages eligible for the programme (official or indigenous languages of the Community), . measures relating to works in the more widely used languages by authors from smaller countries, . young authors and new writers, . the creation of a database with a view to supporting co-publication and the possible creation of semantics databases for professional translators; . as regards comitology, the Commission merely indicated in the recitals that the implementing measures were to be applied in accordance with the interinstitutional "modus vivendi" of 20 December 1994 and the relevant procedures. �