Ref.: COM (2003) 279, Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community action programme to promote organisations active at European Level in the field of equality between men and women

Rapporteur: Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou (EPP-ED, Greece)

Procedure: Co-decision

Summary: To fulfil EU Treaty obligations in the field of equality between men and women, the Commission proposed an instrument to financially support projects from organisations actively promoting equality between genders.

Links: Initial proposal

Updated: 15 February 2006

07 September 2005

The old Council Decision has been amended and published in the Official Journal (download a copy of the legislative text here). The main amendments related to the expiry date (now 31 December 2006, rather than 31 December 2005) and the budget for the period 2001-2006 (now EUR 61.5 million).

The aim of these amendments was to adapt the period and budget covered by this Community action programme to the time and budget frames of PROGRESS.

22 December 2004

As part of the CAP, the Commission published a call for proposal for granting organisations active in the field of gender equality for the period 2004-2005.

The budget was €350.000 providing funding for three projects aiming at:

• Raising awareness through studies, campaign and/or seminar;
• Disseminating information, best practices and new knowledge;
• Developing capacity building through cooperation, networking and training.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 1 February 2005.

From 1 January 2007 the CAP will be integrated in the new programme for employment and social security - PROGRESS.

The Council extended the CAP until 31 December 2006 in order to align the duration of the programme with the end of the current financial perspectives in 2006. Financial perspectives are a long-term planning of the incomes and expenses of the European Union. They cover every EU policy budgets over a long period of time. The last perspectives (also known as Agenda 2000) covered 2000-2006 and the next will start in 2007 and end in 2013.

The Parliament is expected to adopt the Council’s position shortly.

On 19 August 2004, the Commission released a proposal (COM(2004) 551 final) for a Decision to extend the CAP from 31 December 2005 to 31 December 2006. Consequently, funding for the CAP will increase to € 3.3 million. In the same document, the Commission also proposed to extend the Community framework strategy on gender equality¹ until 31^st December 2006 with a budget of € 61.5 million.

The proposal was transmitted to the EP and the Council, and Rodi Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou was appointed as rapporteur.

Read the Council decision here. 

02 June 2004

The € 2.2 million Community action programme (CAP) was planned to start on the 1^st of January 2004. However the official Decision only came into force on the 1^st of may 2004 and was published in the Official Journal on 02 June 2004. The programme is expected to end on 31 December 2005.

There are three strands in the programme:

• Ongoing activities of the European Women's Lobby;
• Ongoing activities of an organisation pursuing an objective of general European interest in the field of gender equality;
• Specific actions of an organisation pursuing an objective of general European interest in the field of equality between women and men.

For more information about the strands of the CAP and the conditions of granting, see the OEIL page  (European Parliament Legislative Observatory) on the issue.

29 April 2004

Procedure terminated and legal text published in the OJ

31 March 2004

The Committee adopted the report for the second reading on 15 March 2004, followed by the EP in plenary session.

During the session the rapporteur declared being in favour of continuing the programme until 2006 but opposed the degressivity principle (a 2.5% progressive decrease of subsidies after 3 years of grant). In order to facilitate negotiations with the Council, Ms Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou also approved modifying the explicit references to the European Women’s Lobby.

The Committee adopted the report for the second reading on 15 March 2004, followed by the EP in plenary session.

During the session the rapporteur declared being in favour of continuing the programme until 2006 but opposed the degressivity principle (a 2.5% progressive decrease of subsidies after 3 years of grant). In order to facilitate negotiations with the Council, Ms Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou also approved modifying the explicit references to the European Women’s Lobby.

06 February 2004

The Council adopted a common position accepting the main objectives of the Commission's proposal and several of the European Parliament's amendments. Although the Council recognised the important work accomplished by the European Women’s Lobby, it did not want to include in its common position explicit references made to the NGO. It stressed its preference to see the criteria of selection of organisations eligible for grant more abstractly defined.

15 January 2004

The Commission accepted 11 amendments proposed by the EP and rejected 8. The rejected amendments aimed at modifying the financing terms including the degressivity principle and the duration of the programme.

24 November 2003

A “trialogue” meeting, involving the EP, the Council and the Commission discussed the legal basis for these grants and decided to continue their cooperation in order to reach an agreement before the end of 2003 or the very beginning of 2004, at the latest.

03 November 2003

The FEM Committee voted Ms Kratsa-Tsagaropoulou's report which was approved by the EP meeting in plenary session on 20 November 2003.

The Committee called for

• A longer duration of the programme: it should last for 5 years rather than 2 years;
• A change in financing terms: it proposed that the European Women's Lobby should receive financing up to 90% (instead of 80% proposed by the Commission) and should not be subject to the degressivity principle. Other organisations selected to receive grants following a call for proposals should be awarded with 80% of their eligible expenditure, but should be subject to degressivity in real terms at a maximum rate of 2.5%;
• Assessments: Commission's assessment reports should be based on an external assessment to be drawn up by the end of 2006 and should look at the overall relevance and coherence of the programme, the effectiveness of its execution, and the overall and individual effectiveness of the various measures;
• A diversification of activities: funded activities should include: developing cooperation with women's organisations in the new Member States; gender mainstreaming in education, sport, health and social protection; fostering cooperation with women's organisations in non-EU countries and raising awareness of the situation of women worldwide; and combating violence as an obstacle to equality.

Initial proposal, transmitted to the EP and to the Council on 02 June 2003

The proposal underlines the important work and role of the European Women’s Lobby in the implementation of the principle of equality between men and women in the EU.

Activities should contribute to the development and implementation of Community actions promoting equality between men and women. They must in all cases be in accordance with the principles underlying Community action in this policy area and have trans-national potential. In addition, the organisations must have been legally established for more than one year, acting alone or in the form of various coordinated associations.

The European Women’s Lobby would receive an operating grant (core funding) and other organisations active in the field could apply for project funding (calls for proposals).