Brussels, 22/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - At its meeting on 15 May in Strasbourg, the EP women's rights committee adopted the report by German Social Democrat MEP Lissy Gröner on the Commission's proposal establishing the new “Fight against violence (Daphne) and drugs prevention and information” programme for 2007-2013. In so doing, the committee argued for two stand alone programmes. It considered that Daphne, the European programme to tackle violence against children, young people and women, was a success and should not be mixed in with efforts to combat drug addiction.
In a press release the Parliamentary committee stressed the main differences between the two issues, and said that projects against violence would not be a new programme but would be the third phase of Daphne (Daphne III) with a proposed budget of 115.87 million euro for 2007-2013. it also called for: - Daphne to support a “European Year against violence against women”; - Daphne to be open to a wider range of NGOs; - the establishment of a think tank to provide guidelines to the Commission on the selection of projects; - clearly defined and credible targets and the reduction of the numbers of people who fall victim to violence and human trafficking by a half over the next ten years. MEPs said that Daphne should be open to Central Asian, Mediterranean and ACP countries. The Parliamentary civil liberties committee is currently drawing up a legislative report on the drugs prevention and information programme.