Updated: 15 February 2006
08 December 2005
The Council reached a partial political agreement on PROGRESS. The "partial" nature of this agreement is due to the fact that the budgetary aspects have been excluded pending the outcome of the negotiations on the future Community financial framework (Financial Perspective 2007-2013). It is therefore expected that the Council will agreed on a common position on 10 March 2006 during the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council.
21 October 2005
The Commission considered that a large number of the European Parliament's amendments were acceptable as they improve its proposal and maintain the aims and political viability of the proposal.
However it should be noted that the Commission has not accepted Parliament’s proposals on the financial framework of the programme from EUR 628.8 million to EUR 854.2 million. Nor has the Commission accepted amendments on the amount permitted for co-financing or the lower limits for the financial breakdown between the different sections.
The Commission accepted the majority of the amendments, including the following:
- Inclusion of the Community action programme to promote organisations active at European level in the field of equality between men and women.
- Emphasis on the importance of the need to reconcile family and professional life
- Inclusion of references to equal treatment between women and men and the principle of gender mainstreaming.
- References to the promotion of networking, mutual learning and dissemination of innovative approaches.
- Mention of the use of statistics and of indicators broken down by gender and age group.
- Recognition of key role of NGOs in the field of anti-discrimination
6 September 2005
The European Parliament adopted a Karin Jöns’ amendments on the financial framework of the Programme from EUR 628.8 million to EUR 854.2 million.
In addition, the following principal amendments were made:
- The involvement of non-governmental organisations active at regional, national and EU levels is important for the successful implementation of the Programme’s general objectives, and they should therefore play a substantial part, through relevant EU networks, in devising, implementing and monitoring the Programme.
- The principle of gender mainstreaming must be taken into account in all Programme sections and activities
- Co-financing may not exceed, as a general rule, 90% of the total expenditure incurred by the recipient rather than 80% as in the original proposal.
17 March 2005
During the FEMM Committee, Ilda Figueiredo (rapporteur for the FEMM Committee) developed her proposals of amendments.
- PROGRESS should include a specific budget line for a programme on gender equality ("Gender Equality 2013"). The objective is to give more visibility to gender equality issues;
- The budget allocated to gender equality in PROGRESS should not include the running costs of the future EU Institute for Gender Equality (IGE). If the IGE budget remains within the total PROGRESS budget, funding for other gender equality policies will be very limited;
- The proposal should coordinate with existing directives on gender equality and women’s rights. All areas of policy should take into account the principle of gender mainstreaming. The objectives of the programme should therefore be extended;
- The programme should pay more attention to the fact that women and children are the main victims of poverty;
- PROGRESS should involve more stakeholders such as NGOs;
- Due to the financial difficulties of some NGOs active in the field of gender equality, the Commission should maintain its level of financial participation to project to 90%, and not reduce it to 80% as proposed;
PROGRESS budget should be increased to €700 so the gender equality area of activity benefits from 10% of the total budget.
14 July 2004
The Commission released a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity - PROGRESS
The objective of the programme is to regroup existing DG Employment and Social Affairs action programmes (such as the Community action programme to promote organisations active in the field of equality between men and women, and the Programme relating to the Community framework strategy on gender equality). The new €628,8 million plan will cover the period 2007-2013.
The programme will pursue:
- The improvement of knowledge and understanding of the social situation prevailing in the Member States (and in other participating countries) through analysis, evaluation and close monitoring of policies;
- The support of the development of statistical tools and methods and common indicators in the areas covered by the programme;
- The support and monitoring of the implementation of Community law and policies objectives in the Member States and assessing their impact;
- The promotion of networking, mutual learning, and identification and dissemination of good practice at EU level;
- The enhancement of awareness of the stakeholders and the general public about the EU policies pursued under each of the 5 thematic sections;
- The boosting of the capacity of key EU networks to promote and support EU policies.
The budget will be divided into 5 areas of activity which employment (21%), social protection and inclusion (28%), working conditions (8%); antidiscrimination and diversity (23%) and gender equality (8%).
Measures envisaged in the gender equality section are as follow:
- Improving the understanding of the situation in relation to gender issues and gender mainstreaming in particular through analysis and studies results and the development of statistics and indicators as well as assessing the impact of existing legislation, policies and practices;
- Supporting the implementation of EU gender equality legislation through reinforced monitoring, training of practitioners and networking amongst institutional actors including equality bodies;
- Raising awareness, disseminating information and promoting the debate about the key challenges and policy issues raised in relation to gender equality and gender mainstreaming.
- Developing the capacity of key EU networks to pursue EU policy goals
PROGRESS is on the agenda of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council of the 3rd of March 2005. The employment and social affairs Committee is due to adopt its report in its meeting of the 15th of June 2005.
