Brussels, 19/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Conciliation Committee, co-chaired by Renzo Imbeni, European Parliament Vice-President, and Frank Vandenbroucke, Belgian Minister for Social Affairs and Pensions and President-in-Office of the EU Social Council, reached an agreement in the evening of 18 September on the decision setting up a five-year action programme (2002-2006) to encourage cooperation between Member States in the fight against social exclusion. The programme has a budget of 75 million euro over five years. The agreement has to be confirmed by the EP (deciding through the majority of votes cast) and the Council (qualified majority) to be definitively adopted.
The new programme comes within the "open co-ordination method" between Member States launched on the occasion of the European Council of Lisbon in March 2000 and aims to provide decisive impetus to the eradication of social exclusion and poverty by setting appropriate goals at Community level and the implementation of national action plans. Its goal is to contribute to a better understanding of social exclusion, to take account of social exclusion in the policies and measures in Member States and the Community, and the elaboration of priority actions: It will focus on: 1) analysing the characteristics, process, causes and developments of social exclusion; 2) co-operation and exchange of information and best practice; 3) participation of several players (politicians, social partners, NGOs, the poor themselves) and support for networking at European level.