Life long learning: integrated action programme comprising Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig programmes and the Jean Monnet programme

The Commission considers that the common position adopted by the Council on 24 July 2006 by unanimity is appropriate. It notes that the Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education of the European Parliament has indicated in a letter to the Council Presidency that if the common position was adopted as such he would recommend to the Committee to approve the common position in second reading. The Commission can therefore support the common position which reflects the agreement reached between the three institutions.

In relation to the revised Commission proposal, two changes of substance have been made in the common position, with the prior agreement of the Parliament:

a) reverting to the Commission’s original proposal for the administration of multilateral projects in the Comenius, Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci and Grundtvig sub-programmes;

b) adding the International Centre for European Training (CIFE) in Nice to the list of institutions designated to be able to receive operating grants without the need for a call for proposals.

The first change simply restores the text from the Commission’s original proposal, so requires no comment. As regards the second change, the Commission stated in the Parliament’s plenary debate on 24 October that it would not oppose an agreement reached between the Parliament and the Council on the institutions to be designated under Article 37 of this Decision. The inclusion of CIFE is therefore accepted by the Commission.

The Commission notes that the equivalent of the financial envelope of EUR 6.2 billion in 2004 prices referred to in the common position (Article 14) is EUR 6.97 billion in current prices.