Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-10-24-Speech-1-081"
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"en.20051024.15.1-081"2
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".
Mr President, the second of the programmes tonight and the third one later on show the special interest of the European Parliament in supporting areas where we believe that kind of new momentum is to be addressed for the future of Europe.
The Commission adopted its proposal for the ‘Youth in Action’ programme in July last year. Parliament, and especially the Committee on Culture and Education, has always been supportive of initiatives in favour of youth. The negotiations which took place this year have confirmed this and today we are going to discuss an excellent report which is the result of fruitful cooperation. I would especially like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Gröner, for this cooperation and the leading position she has adopted in preparation for successful decisions.
The ‘Youth in Action’ programme is designed to ensure continuity of current activities in the field of youth but also to develop them further. It is a programme of informal learning and mobility which will allow young people between the ages of 13 and 30 to get involved in projects developing solidarity and citizenship. These are the cement for European unity, mainly through youth exchanges, the European Voluntary Service and projects related to participative democracy.
As you know the details of the programme, I shall not reflect on them but, rather, give the Commission’s view on some important amendments. I am pleased to say that after the good exchange of views and cooperation up until now, most of your proposed amendments can be supported without reserve by the Commission. Few amendments, mainly those seeking to introduce more detail into Article 8, cannot be supported. Article 8 is about the implementing provision and the establishment of national agencies which will be responsible for the management of the programme at national level. The Commission’s text sets out only general requirements in line with the principle of subsidiarity. It will be up to the Member States’ authorities to implement these requirements according to national situations.
I would like to comment on some very important amendments on which the Commission agrees. Mrs Gröner’s report, while not suggesting changing the age brackets proposed by the Commission, insists on ensuring that the main target group of the programme will be 15- to 28-year-olds. I very much share any concern over the participation in the programme of young people with fewer opportunities and the prevention of discrimination in terms of access to the programme. This aspect may not have been sufficiently highlighted in our proposal. However, the implementation of the programme is flexible enough to accommodate the specific needs of young people with fewer opportunities.
We also understand that Parliament would like to ensure that the different actions of the programme benefit from minimal financial allocation. This approach is fully compatible with the flexibility required for the implementation of the programme and the Commission is therefore prepared to take on board proposed distribution among different actions.
The report’s proposal to increase the programme’s budget shows the European Parliament’s commitment once again to a programme that directly addresses young people and thus contributes to bringing younger generations closer to Europe. I must stress that the financial issues are all subject to the outcome of the negotiations relating to the financial perspectives.
Finally, I wish to express my satisfaction at the proposed reference in the programme to the European Youth Week. I am also very pleased to see that, once more, the European Parliament will be directly involved in Youth Week, which includes the ‘The Youth takes the floor’ event in Brussels. Youth Week will take place in early December 2005 and I am particularly grateful for the participation of President Borrell and for the arrangements made for hearing young people in this Parliament.
To conclude, I wish to thank Mrs Gröner once again for the quality of the report. I believe that the ‘Youth in Action’ programme is widely supported by this assembly, and I thank you for that. I hope that the next step will be the adoption of a partial political agreement in the next Council meeting in November."@en1
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