13/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday the European Parliament gave its assent to the draft regulation to extend the PEACE II programme supporting reconciliation in Northern Ireland (which expired at the end of last year) until the end of 2006, so that it coincides with the EU structural funds programming period. Parliament effectively approved the recommendation by James Nicholson (Ulster Unionist Party, Britain), which underlined the practical and symbolic importance of this EUR 531 million funded programme (the first PEACE programme had funding of EUR 500 million for 1995-99). The Nicholson report notes that the budgetary authority should not approve the "necessary amendments to the financial perspectives 2002-06 or take other measures to ensure that appropriate financial provisions are implemented for continuing the programme.