Cultural heritage: Community action programme 1997-2000, Raphaël

In its opinion amending the proposal following the EP's second reading, the Commission announces that it can incorporate, in whole or in part, 5 of the 7 amendments adopted by Parliament. In particular, it accepts the amendments clarifying the promotion of the European touristic heritage and redefining the 'sensitive' groups eligible for assistance under the programme. It also accepts the deletion of the article providing for a review of the overall budget after 2 years of implementation (while retaining its original budget of ECU 57 m over 4 years rather than ECU 30 m as the Council wished). It approves the amendment increasing the ceiling for amounts for projects under Action I (it regards the new ceiling of ECU 250 000 as more realistic than that of ECU 150 000). However, the Commission does not accept the amendments seeking to increase the budget to ECU 86 million over 4 years or the amendment on commitology. �