Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-14-Speech-2-304"
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"en.20060314.27.2-304"2
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The question concerns simplification and a more user-friendly space for educational mobility and programmes connected with youth, culture and citizenship.
As you know, the proposal on education and the new generation of programmes in the field of lifelong learning, youth and culture were adopted in 2004 for the period 2007-2013. We are preparing for this, the programmes are still not fully adopted, but they will replace existing programmes and will also contribute to clearer and simpler conditions for users. The new programmes, once fully established, will enable individuals to benefit more from a true common European area of mobility. Hopefully, appropriate funding will be available. These programmes will allow institutions in the fields of education, training and culture to improve the way they operate together. In this context, the simplification of administrative and financial procedures is a key issue. Successive evaluations and large-scale public consultation exercises have demonstrated that the current programmes would indeed benefit from simplification. That, however, requires efforts at different stages, at the level of the administrative arrangements for the programmes themselves and at the level of the Financial Regulation and its implementing rules.
At programme level, it is proposed to reduce the number of programmes in the area of education and training by putting Erasmus, Leonardo da Vinci, Comenius and Grundtvig under the same umbrella: an integrated lifelong learning programme. The design of the new programmes – especially in the youth, culture and citizenship area – is intended to simplify access for the potential beneficiaries. For example, in the new Culture 2007 programme we have created a more open and accessible programme in terms of its very structure, with three main objectives compared to the former eight. It is thus easier to grasp its essence, specifically because it takes a non-sectoral approach, where any player can feel welcome, and is explicitly aimed at the diversity of beneficiaries.
Furthermore, the Commission aims to simplify the application and the reporting systems involved and, of course, to accelerate the selection procedure. We have included provisions to that effect in the draft decision. During the ongoing codecision procedure for adoption of the programme decisions, both Parliament and the Council have supported the Commission’s aim to achieve maximum simplification, not only in the form of the programme actions but also in their administrative and financial requirements, and to find the right balance between flexibility and ease of use on the one hand and clarity of purpose and appropriate financial and procedural safeguards on the other hand.
As regards the Financial Regulation, the Commission has proposed a series of amendments which are currently under examination by Parliament. These amendments will, inter alia, introduce the principle of proportionality, which means that the administrative and accounting requirements should be proportional to the size of the grant. As to the implementing rules, progress has already been made because in July 2005 the Commission amended the detailed rules for the implementation of Financial Regulation No 1, which led, among others, to the following improvements in terms of simplified procedures.
Firstly, the requirement for external audit in support of payments is now obligatory only for intermediate payments or payments for the balance where the grant exceeds EUR 750 000 for actions and EUR 100 000 for operating grants. The second amendment is that the limit on flat-rate amounts has been increased from EUR 5000 to EUR 10 000. In addition, several flat-rate amounts are now possible in one grant and the Commission can authorise the use of flat-rate amounts even if they are not specified in the basic act."@en1
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