Active European citizenship: Europe for Citizens programme 2007-2013

The Common position was adopted on 18 September 2006 by unanimity. It is largely based on the Commission amended proposal, which itself accepted a large number of the European Parliament’s amendments.

The differences between the Commission amended proposal and the Common position of the Council concern the following three main issues:

1) Designated organisations: the Commission proposed the designation, for the whole duration of the programme, of a total of nine designated organisations, thereby integrating three additional organisations proposed by the European Parliament. However, in view of the difficulties encountered by the Council in reaching a compromise on this issue, the Commission can accept the position of the Council, consisting in the phasing out, after a period of three years, of the nine designated organisations.

2) Budget breakdown between the actions: the European Parliament and the Council reviewed the original proposal of the Commission, putting emphasis however on different actions of the programme (on action I for the Council and on action II for the European Parliament). The Commission's amended proposal broadly maintained its initial position, in order to ensure a balance between the different actions. However, in order to facilitate a quick agreement, the Commission can accept any compromise solution within the limits set by the co-legislators, i.e.:

§         between 40 and 47 % for action I;

§         between 29 and 38 % for action II).

3) Comitology: the Commission made a declaration, for inclusion in the minutes of the Council, expressing its regrets about the introduction of a further step in the comitology procedure, which will have a negative impact on the beneficiaries. However, the Commission can accept the text of the Common position in order to avoid any delay in the adoption of the programme. Under those circumstances, the Commission considers the Common position as being an acceptable compromise and recommends to the European Parliament to approve it.

The Commission notes that the equivalent of the financial envelope of EUR 190 million in 2004 prices referred to in the Council common position (article 11 on budgetary resources) is EUR 215 million in current prices.