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

The European Parliament approved this proposal for a decision with the following amendments: - the title was amended in order to highlight the fact that the Ariane programme aimed to support books and reading through translation; - emphasis was placed on the importance of this programme for the promotion of a European identity and European citizenship and for the influence of the European Union throughout the world; - the EP also stressed the importance of books as an instrument of knowledge and the complementary relationship between books and current audiovisual technology (information society). Similarly, it pointed out that although literary translation could contribute to the promotion of books, it was not sufficient to encourage reading in general (reference to its proposal for a programme in this field: Gutenberg programme). As a result, Ariane should only be viewed as a first step towards a Community policy to promote books; - the EP drew attention to the fact that it was necessary to adopt a professional status for translators; - it extended cooperation to include third countries: Ariane should be accessible not only to the CEECs but to the countries of the EEA and the countries deemed to fulfil the conditions for accession to the Union (Cyprus and Malta); - synergy should be achieved with other international organisations, including the Council of Europe and UNESCO; it was important to ensure complementarity with other similar actions at Community or Member State level; - with regard to the budget, the EP asked to receive a financial statement comprising the planned schedule of annual requirements for the programme in accordance with the decisions of the budgetary authority and in line with the state of execution of the authorised appropriations; - as regards support for the actions more specifically, the EP stipulated that official Community languages and languages which were indigenous to the Member States were eligible for the programme. Additional actions were included for certain less widely-used languages and for young authors or writers publishing works for the first time. Applications from small publishing houses should be given special consideration and priority should be given to publishers who had not previously received Community grants; cooperation between publishers at European level should be encouraged (creation of a database to support co-publication), and awareness of the programme itself should be increased. The EP also provided for support for translation of works for blind persons. Finally, particular attention should be paid to professionals in the field of publishing; - the EP proposed the creation of a semantics database to help translators with their work (the Translation Centre in Luxembourg could take responsibility for this); - finally, with regard to comitology, the EP pointed out that the choice of experts and the measures taken within the committee established by the programme should comply with the interinstitutional "modus vivendi" of 20 January 1995 and the associated procedures. �