Strasbourg, 24/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - On 20 November in Strasbourg, the EP adopted - 371 votes to 62 and 10 abstentions - the report by Heide Rühle (Greens/EFA, Germany) concerning the Council's proposal of decision establishing a Community action programme for the promotion of active European citizenship. In so doing, it took a stance on the question of Info Points, whose survival is threatened by the Commission's decision of 29 September to suspend payment of aid for operating costs of 270 information relay points for the public (Info Points, rural crossroads, etc.) as of 1 January 2004.
The EP had responded on 23 October during its vote at first reading of the 2004 budget by including funds intended for the administrative management of EU general information actions in the financial reserve. The Rühle report proposes that the European Info Points be included in the entities likely to receive Community subsidies under the above-mentioned programme. Furthermore, following the adoption of an oral amendment by German Democrat Doris Pack, the EP asks for the same to be true for the "Maisons de l'Europe". The Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights stressed that, if this subsidy is not paid, then the personnel should be dismissed at the end of the year. Even if the activities are able to resume in 2005, the situation thus created would be unacceptable with a view to the 2004 European elections, it explains. MEPs note that the Commission's decision is based on the fact that there is no basic act allowing implementation of funding , which is why they suggest extending the scope of the proposal on active citizenship, so that it, too, contains the legal base required for funding the European Info-Points.
During the debate, the Committee on Culture - speaking through the voice of its Chairman, French Socialist Michel Rocard (who, in an oral question, had asked when the Commission would take a decision about the future financing arrangements) - joined by the Budgets Committee, bore witness to the importance it confers upon these organisations. The measure taken by the European Commission without informing the EP, threatens de facto the survival of 270 European Info Points which each receive some EUR 20,000 to 25,000 per year. "We are aware of the fact that the new financial regulation - that we voted at the EP - bans operating subsidies", Michel Rocard explained. "But here we are faced with the severity of consequences that stringent application of this legal text imposes on us", he added. Speaking on behalf of the budgets committee, Socialist Catherine Guy-Quint noted that "as European elections draw nearer and at the time when the EU is expanding, at this crucial moment of the IGC (…) which prefigures great institutional and political changes, the general public must be kept informed". Michel Rocard added to this: "The Commission must be aware of the fact that the European Elections are not only linked to the EP (…). It is a process of active participation by citizens in which the Commission must be involved". He concluded by saying: "The Commission must find a solution and guarantee that the networks and the Info Points may pursue their useful task unhindered during a year that will be marked by elections".