7 Youth in Action programme 2007-13
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11586/04
COM(04) 471
+ ADD 1
| Draft Decision creating the "Youth in Action" programme for the period 2007-2013
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| Legal base | Article 149(4) EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | Ministers' letters of 6 April and 12 October 2005
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-xxx (2003-04), para 3 (9 September 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | 15 November 2005
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Budgetary provisions not cleared; further information requested
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Background
7.1 The Community's current Youth programme began in January 2000
and expires on 31 December 2006. In September 2004, the previous
Committee considered the draft of a Decision to establish the
successor programme, covering the period from the beginning of
2007 to the end of 2013.[16]
7.2 The key objectives of the new programme would
be: to promote active citizenship by young people; improve cross-border
understanding and solidarity; and promote European cooperation
in youth policies. To these ends, the programme would support,
for example: cross-border exchanges between young people; cross-border
voluntary service; transnational youth organisations; and cross-border
exchanges of information between young people, youth workers and
policy makers. Each country would be required to appoint a national
agency to support the programme locally.
7.3 The programme's total budget for 2007-13 would
be €915 million; the budget for the 2000-06 programme is
€520 million.
7.4 The Government told the previous Committee that
it broadly supported the proposal but had reservations about several
points. For example, the Government thought that the age range
for participation in the programme should be 15 to 25, rather
than 13 to 30 as proposed by the Commission; and the Government
wanted to ensure that the provisions on exchanges of young people
from third countries were fully consistent with the UK's immigration
and visa requirements. The Government also said that it would
not be possible to agree the budget for the programme until the
EU's overall budget for 2007-13 had been settled.
7.5 The previous Committee asked the Minister to
keep it informed of progress in the negotiations and, in particular,
to say whether there would be one national agency to run the programme
for the UK or separate agencies for England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
The Minister's letter of 6 April 2005
7.6 In his letter of 6 April, the then Minister of
State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education at the
Department for Education and Skills (Dr Kim Howells) told us that
the British Council is currently the UK's national agency for
the Youth programme, having won the job by competition. The expectation
is that there will be only one agency for the UK during the 2007-13
programme. The devolved administrations would be involved in the
awarding of the contract. He also said that the negotiations on
the draft Decision were still in progress and the Government was
arguing for amendments to meet the points about which it had reservations.
The Minister's letter of 12 October 2005
7.7 The Minister of State for Lifelong Learning,
Further and Higher Education at the Department of Education and
Skills (Mr Bill Rammell) tells us:
- about amendments which have
been made to the draft Decision during the negotiations and which
are likely to be agreed by the Council in November;
- about the amendments proposed by the European
Parliament's Culture and Education Committee; and
- that the UK Presidency hopes to gain "partial
political agreement" to the draft Decision at the Council
in November.
Changes made during Council negotiations
7.8 The Minister encloses with his letter of 12 October
a text of the draft Decision showing the amendments that have
been agreed during the Council negotiations so far and which are
likely to be approved at the Council's meeting in November. He
makes clear that all the proposed provisions which would be affected
by the outcome of the discussions on the EU's overall budget for
2007-13 will remain undecided until the budget has been settled.
For instance, the age range for participation in the programme
will not be decided until the EU budget has been agreed.
7.9 The amendments which are likely to be agreed
by the Council on 15 November include:
- an express requirement for
the Commission to monitor the implementation of the programme
"against its objectives" (Article 15(1)); and a requirement
that monitoring and evaluation by the Commission and the Member
States should include "measurable and relevant objectives
and indicators" (Recital 19); and
- the deletion of Article 6(5) of the draft the
previous Committee considered in October 2004 which would have
required Member States to take measures to ensure that participants
from third countries were admitted to their areas.
7.10 The Minister also tells us that there are a
few minor matters which are outstanding, such as whether the draft
Decision should refer to civic and voluntary service at the national
level. In the Government's view, none of the outstanding issues
is contentious for the UK and it is likely that they will be
resolved by the time of the Council meeting on 15 November.
The amendments proposed by the European Parliament's
Culture and Education Committee
7.11 On 12 September the European Parliament's Culture
and Education Committee agreed proposals for 52 amendments to
the draft Decision. The Minister tells us that some of the Committee's
proposals affect the financial provisions of the proposal. For
example, the Culture and Education Committee proposes that the
programme's budget should be increased from €915 million
to €1,128 million. The Minister says that the Council meeting
on 15 November will not reach decisions on proposals for amendments
to the financial provisions.
7.12 The other amendments proposed by the European
Parliament's Committee are minor (for example, to add references
to the need to promote equality between men and women and fight
unfair discrimination in all forms) and the Minister considers
it unlikely that the Council will reject them.
7.13 The Minister also tells us that European Parliament
is "set" to adopt the Culture and Education Committee's
opinion on 25 October. He will then write to us again.
Partial Political Agreement
7.14 The Minister says:
"The UK has set out its intention to make
as much progress as possible on [the Youth programme] during its
Presidency. The Education and Culture Council will meet on 15
November and will be chaired by the Secretary of State for Education
and Skills. As it is not possible to gain full adoption of the
[programme] until there is agreement on the overall EU budget,
the UK Presidency is aiming to gain 'partial political agreement'
at this Council. This approach was developed by HMT [HM Treasury],
put to Coreper by the UK Presidency and endorsed by all Member
States.
"Partial Political Agreement (PPA) is a
way of securing Council agreement on the non-budgetary elements
of the proposal, while leaving aside those articles which concern
the budgetary amounts, or which are directly related to the budgetary
amount. As adjustments to parts of the [programme] might be necessary
once the budgetary amounts are known it would be possible to reopen
parts of the text again once the overall programme budget has
been decided. …
"The PPA would also need to take account
of amendments proposed by the European Parliament."
The Minister asks us to agree to a PPA before the
Council's meeting in November.
Conclusion
7.15 We are grateful to the Minister for his progress
report. There are no questions that we need put to him about the
amendments agreed so far in the Council negotiations. We note
the Minister's remarks on the proposals of the European Parliament's
Culture and Education Committee.
7.16 We can understand why the Government and
other Member States see benefit in reaching a partial political
agreement on the non-budgetary provisions of the draft Decision
on 15 November. We see no need to object to such a partial and
provisional approach on the express understanding that consideration
of any provision of the document can, if necessary, be re-opened
in the light of the settlement of the EU's overall budget for
2007-13; that the Government will provide us with timely progress
reports; and that the budgetary provisions of the document remain
under scrutiny.
16 See headnote. Back
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