Culture: grants to bodies active at European level, 2004-2006 action programme

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Ulpu IIVARI (PES, FIN) making some amendments to the Commission's proposals. It voted to shorten the programme. Parliament wants it to start on 1 January 2004 and end on 31 December 2006 (instead of ending in December 2008). The budget is therefore reduced from EUR 30.92 million to EUR 22.764 million. Moreover, in order for Parliament to be provided with more information about the various activities and organisations being funded, it should be able to obtain and analyse at the earliest opportunity the external evaluation which had been commissioned into the organisations concerned. The Commission should inform Parliament of the criteria used (priorities, themes and types of activities) before it issued a call for proposals. The Commission is also asked to submit a brief report to Parliament each year on the implementation of the programme. Parliament adopted an amendment underlying the role of cultural organisations in "promoting awareness of Europe's common cultural heritage". In the interests of transparency, the Parliament says that any beneficiary of a grant from the EU budget should indicate this in a prominent place such as a website homepage or an annual report. Parliament also laid down amendments relating to named organisations which may be awarded an operating grant directly and those organisations which receive a grant following a call for proposals in accordance with certain criteria. Finally, the provisions relating to the gradual decrease of grants were deleted. �