The EU Council intends to place the promotion of civic engagement at the heart of the EU's new Rights and Values programme. This is revealed in a compromise text from the Austrian Presidency of the Council, dated 29 October, of which EUROPE has had a copy.
As a reminder, at the end of May, the European Commission unveiled its proposal for a Justice, Rights and Values Fund for the period 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12030), to finance the 'Rights and Values' and 'Justice' programmes.
The text first proposes to change the name of the programme 'Rights and Values' by adding 'Citizens'. The field of citizenship, which was currently covered by two different programmes, will now be covered by this new programme and several delegations have asked to focus on this aspect, according to a European source.
Among the other recommended changes, the text also insists that the programme should support actions to prevent and combat all forms of discrimination, including online, and adds the fight against homophobia and transphobia to the list.
It should be noted that the term ‘EU values’ is systematically replaced in the text by ‘common values’.
Budget. The text also suggests a different allocation from the €641,705,000 package for the programme. The Commission proposed to allocate €408,705,000 in conjunction with the objectives of promoting equality and rights and combating violence, and €233,000,000 for the objective of promoting citizen engagement and participation in the democratic life of the EU.
The Presidency text is oriented towards a percentage allocation of funds for each of the three objectives of the programme, namely: - 32% of the total package for the objective of promoting equality and rights; - 36% for the objective of promoting citizen engagement; - 32% for the objective of combating violence.
However, this version of the text has not yet been discussed by the Member States, the same source told us, and its content is therefore still subject to change. Austria would in any case aim at an agreement between Member States on a partial general approach before the end of its Presidency. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)