Fight against organized crime: exchanges, training and cooperation. 1998-2002 FALCONE programme

Adopting the report by Mr Leoluca Orlando (V, I), Parliament approved the Falcone programme with the following amendments: - apart from the current beneficiaries of the proposed measures under the joint action (judges, prosecutors, police and customs departments and civil servants), Parliament has added 'other persons with responsibility for the fight against organized crime': those responsible for a society's cultural climate, such as teachers or university professors, NGO officials and representatives of certain sensitive professions such as lawyers, accountants or auditors; - Parliament has also amended the list of planned measures in the programme and deleted the financing of meetings and conferences (preferring to keep to the organization of training courses and seminars); - with regard to Community financial support, Parliament calls for the financial contribution from the Community not to exceed 60% of the cost of the project, except for measures for applicant countries where the rate should not exceed 80%; - with regard to access to funding, Parliament calls for a project to be financed if three Member States or two Member States and one applicant country are participating, with a view to familiarizing future EU members with the Community acquis in this area. In parallel, Parliament urges that funding granted under the joint action should cover tasks specifically connected with the joint implementation of the project. It also amends the co-financing threshold above which the Commission must inform the Falcone programme committee (ECU 200 000 instead of the current ECU 50 000) and changes parts of the proposal concerned with decision-making. Finally, Parliament asks to be informed of the annual programme adopted in application of the joint measures and that its opinion be duly taken into account in drawing up this programme. �