Activites

• 1997/12/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 1997/872
  • OJ L 354 30.12.1997, p. 0025
• #2062
• 1997/12/16 Council Meeting
• 1997/12/16 End of procedure in Parliament
• 1997/12/16 Act adopted by Council after consultation of Parliament
• 1997/10/31 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0543
• 1997/09/18 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0442/1997 summary

    In adopting the recommendation for second reading by Mrs Marialiese FLEMMING (PPE, A), the European Parliament approved the Council's common position with the following amendments: - doing away with the financial reference amount in the text of the proposal (ECU 10.6 million), - amending the rate of Community assistance available for NGOs: Parliament proposed a new threshold of 60% rather than the 50% proposed by the Council in the common position, - adding certain selection criteria on which financial support would depend: cooperating with organisations in Central and Eastern Europe, promoting sustainable development and education on the environment, innovation, enhancing the participation and influence of the social forces and the public. Parliament also pointed out that NGOs seeking grants over ECU 100 000 would have to provide their accounts for the preceding two years, the current year and the year during which the grant-aided projects had been completed. �

• 1997/09/17 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    The rapporteur welcomed the initiative for an action programme to promote non-governmental organisations involved in environmental protection. However, she argued for a whole series of amendments which covered, among other issues, the distribution of resources in the areas of activity of NGOs. Therefore, while approving the Council’s common position where it specified 40% for environmental information, the rapporteur called for 50% instead of the Council’s 40% for the analysis of environmental activities and 10% instead of 20% for cooperation. She noted that it was inconceivable for the appropriations intended for cooperation to be used to finance meetings of Commission departments and/or advisory committees under the ‘subsidies to NGOs’ heading. Commissioner Bjerregaard considered that NGOs formed an important source of information for the Commission, particularly as they could play a major role in developing a new democracy in Europe. The Commissioner could accept Amendments Nos 1, 3 and 4 in full. As for Amendments Nos 2 and 5, the first was partly acceptable and the second was acceptable in principle. However, Amendment No 6 could not be accepted by the Commission.

• 1997/09/04 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0264/1997
• 1997/05/29 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2001
• 1997/04/24 Council Meeting
  • 06927/3/1997 summary

    In its common position on the Community action programme promoting non-governmental organizations primarily active in the field of environmental protection, the Council largely followed the amended Commission proposal: 10 of Parliament's 21 amendments were thus included in their entirety or in part. Those accepted included: - a definition of NGOs taking part: 'independent and non-profit-making organizations primarily active in the field of environmental protection'; - Community assistance, which can cover activities of environmental NGOs initiated by the organizations themselves; - eligible costs: unpaid work and donations in kind may be taken into account (up to a level of 10%); - the timetable for calls for proposals for activities and decisions on financing: decisions on financing will be taken before 31 May, as asked by Parliament, and calls for proposals will be announced before 31 January; - the possibility of continuing the programme beyond the phase covered by the proposal. The Council modified the following amendments proposed by Parliament: - the maximum rate of funding should not exceed 50% of NGO budgets and their administrative costs (and not 60% as Parliament wanted); - there is no reference to duration of funding (in practice this means that an NGO could receive funding under this programme for its entire four year duration). The Council also made some changes to the text of the proposal. It has simplified the terminology used ('subsidy' and 'Commission-financing' have been replaced by 'financial assistance' and 'financial contribution', 'costs' has been substituted for 'expenditure', etc.). The Council has also changed the programme's procedure and dates from 1996-2000 to 1998-2002 (the date for presentation of the report has also been changed from 30 June 1999 to 31 December 2000). The Council has also: - introduced the financial reference amount in the text: ECU 10.6 m; - deleted references to the 'polluter pays' principle and the subsidiarity principle in the recitals (because they are covered elsewhere); - introduced a reference to Community environmental legislation (as well as policy) under areas of activity eligible for financing; - detailed the general criteria for the selection of activities for financing; - made a better distinction between NGO activities eligible for financing and their administrative costs (a financial contribution for administrative costs will be considered only for NGOs working at European level in the context of their general working programme); - stated that the list to be published each year in the Official Journal should include details of the beneficiaries and the amounts allocated; - provided for an annual report to the Council and Parliament on the state of implementation of the programme. �

• #1990
• 1997/03/03 Council Meeting
• 1997/02/05 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1997)0028 summary

    In its amended proposal the Commission has taken over wholly or in part 12 of the 21 amendments approved by Parliament at first reading. These amendments deal with the following points: - demonstration of the specific nature of the NGO participating in the programme (active environmental NGOs) and clearer definition of the NGOs eligible (private, non-profit making), - increase in the level of Community aid for operational expenditure (up to 60% instead of 40%) and increase in the term of the aid (four years instead of three), - account to be taken of volunteer workers and gifts in kind in the total eligible expenditure (10%), - greater transparency in the use of EC support and in particular amendment of the dates for the publication of calls for tender under this programme (31 January) and the date on which the Commission decides on the eligible NGOs (31 May each year), The Commission did not however accept the amendments dealing with the following points: - extension of the measures to NGOs with a coordinating role or a European dimension and provision of different funds for coordinating NGOs (30% instead of 40%), - references to the Fifth Environmental Action Programme, - provision of funding for measures intended to strengthen cooperation between NGOs from different countries, - changes to the selection and exclusion criteria for NGOs in the programme: e.g. cost-benefit of the activities proposed, existence of crossborder cooperation, or exclusion from financing of measures relating to awareness, etc. (the Commission prefers not to set too rigid criteria in its proposal), - provision of an assessment of the selection criteria to be forwarded to the budgetary authority each year and verification of the accounts relating to the operations funded, - modification of the proportion of funding allocated for different types of environmental measures (these changes involve a reduction in the grants for the actions themselves, which the Commission considers unacceptable), - change in the date on which the final assessment report must be forwarded to the institutions and provision of the legal basis for the future proposal for changes to the programme. �

• #1978
• 1996/12/09 Council Meeting
• 1996/11/13 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0588/1996 summary

    In adopting the report by Mr Paul RÜBIG (PPE, A), Parliament approved the Community action programme promoting NGOs primarily active in the field of environmental protection. However, it called for the inclusion of European environmental umbrella organizations. The programme should also finance measures designed to strengthen cooperation between NGOs from different countries. Parliament also spelled out the criteria on the basis of which activities should be selected, inter alia: a sound cost-benefit ratio, a lasting multiplier effect, cross-border cooperation in Europe, particularly with Central and Eastern European organizations, and the participation of the public. It also stated the Community funding should not be granted to general education and information campaigns, measures which have already been completed or are underway, activities which can be supported under Community programmes, organizations against which an EC tribunal has delivered a judgment in the course of the preceding two years, or simple transfers of national measures. The EP proposed that Community assistance should be able to cover up to 60% of operational and administrative expenditures, whereas the Commission recommended a rate of assistance not exceeding 40%. Assistance would be limited to 30% of costs in the case of European umbrella organizations. Finally, the EP proposed changes to the allocation of funds. This would mean that analysis of environmental activities would receive 50% of the budget (instead of 40%) and cooperation between NGOs active at European level would qualify for 10% of the budget (instead of 20%). �

• 1996/11/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    The rapporteur, Mr Rubig (EPP, A), expressed his support for the proposal from the Commission concerning the allocation of financial assistance to certain NGOs, as these organisations played a key role in developing environmental awareness and were a real melting pot for ideas and proposals. Commissioner Bjerregaard said that she could only accept part of the amendments tabled.

• 1996/07/23 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0258/1996
• 1996/02/12 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 1995/12/08 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(1995)0573 summary

    OBJECTIVE: to promote European organizations active in the field of environmental protection, mainly by cofinancing their administrative activities. CONTENT: the fields of action eligible for Community aid are: - information on the environment (40% of funds): . dialogue and exchanges of information between NGOs, . development of their environmental protection information and documentation infrastructures; - analysis of environmental measures (40%): . promotion of ecological projects with a multiplier effect, . drafting of reports on the extent of ecological problems which the Community could address, . analysis of the penetration of the "environment" dimension in EC policies; - cooperation between "environmental players" and NGOs active in the field of the environment at European level (20%): . promotion of cooperation between partners in the fifth Community action programme, . promotion of a multisectoral approach to the environment, . coordination between Community programmes and national, regional and local environmental projects. Financial aid consists of cofinancing for projects or subsidies for the NGOs themselves (up to a total not exceeding, in principle, 40% of the operating expenses of NGOs over a maximum of 3 years). - Implementation: the Commission will determine and select the projects to be financed and will ensure that they are consistent with and complementary to Community action in the same field. An opinion will be published on 30 September each year setting out the priority activities and the selection criteria for allocating appropriations for the following year. There will be supervision and penalties in the event of any irregularity. A list of initiatives funded will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities every year. - Report: the Commission will submit a report on the first three years of this programme to the European Parliament and the Council by 30 June 1999. A new programme, to be implemented from 1 January 2000, will be decided on the Commission's proposal. - Duration and financial reference amount: the programme is planned for a period of four years (1996-2000) with a total budget of ECU 10.6 million.�

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(1995)0573
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0258/1996
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0588/1996
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0028
• Council position published: 06927/3/1997
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0264/1997
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0442/1997
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1997)0543
• : Decision 1997/872
• : OJ L 354 30.12.1997, p. 0025

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)