European digital content: quality, access, use and exploitation, eContentplus. 2005-2008 programme

Whilst the Council shares the overall objective of the proposal, in the course of discussion within the Council the text has been partly reworded. The main points of the common position which differ from the Commission proposal and the European Parliament amendments are as follows:

- given the size of the projects envisaged in the proposal, reference is made to SMEs, and to people with special needs;

- a new paragraph specifies the consistency of the programme with other relevant Community policies, programmes and actions;

- the Council favours the management procedure with regard to comitology;

- the total amount proposed by the Commission for the financial framework is reduced to EUR 135 million. In line with other legislation a break clause has been inserted to maintain budget discipline as the programme extends beyond the current financial perspective. The indicative breakdown of expenditure in Annex III has been modified, with more impetus on Action line 1.

All Parliament amendments save one were accepted, although in slightly modified form.