Introductory text

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community and in particular Article 127 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission^f1,

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee^f2,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 189c of the Treaty^f3,

Whereas the Treaty establishing the European Community stipulates that the latter's action shall, inter alia, contribute to the development of quality education and vocational training;

Whereas, by Decision 94/819/EC^f4, the Council established an action programme for the implementation of a European Community vocational training policy; whereas it is appropriate, on the basis of the acquired experience of that programme, to ensure its extension, taking into account the results obtained to date;

Whereas the extraordinary European Council on Employment held in Luxembourg on 20 and 21 November 1997 recognised that life-long education and vocational training can make an important contribution to Member States' employment policies in order to enhance employability, adaptability and entrepreneurship and to promote equal opportunities;

Whereas life-long learning should be provided for persons of all ages and all occupational categories, not only because of technological change but also as a result of the reduction in the number of persons in active employment in the age pyramid;

Whereas in its communication ‘Towards a Europe of Knowledge’ the Commission set out proposals for the creation of a European education area capable of achieving the objective of life-long education and vocational training, identifying the types of measures to be developed at Community level, all focusing on transnational cooperation and designed to bring added value to the action taken by the Member States, while fully respecting the principle of subsidiarity, and in a context of simplified procedures;

Whereas in its White Paper ‘Teaching and learning — Towards the learning society’ the Commission states that the emergence of the learning society entails encouraging the acquisition of new knowledge and to this end providing motivation to learn at every opportunity; whereas in its Green Paper ‘Education, vocational training, research: the obstacles to transnational mobility’ the Commission highlighted the advantages of mobility for people and competitiveness in the European Union;

Whereas measures under this programme should serve the purpose of developing quality, fostering innovation and promoting the European dimension in vocational training systems and practices with a view to encouraging life-long learning; whereas, in the implementation of this programme, attention should be paid to fighting exclusion in all its forms, including racism and xenophobia; whereas special attention should be focused on removing all forms of discrimination and inequality, inter alia for people with a disability, and on promoting equal opportunities for women and men;

Whereas it is necessary, in order to reinforce the added value of Community action, to ensure, at all levels, a coherence and complementarity between the actions implemented in the framework of this Decision and other Community interventions;

Whereas, in view of their role in the maintenance and creation of jobs and the development of training, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the craft industry should be more closely involved in the implementation of this programme;

Whereas the Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, is seeking to secure coherence and complementarity between the actions under this programme and other relevant Community policies, instruments and actions, in particular the European Social Fund, by facilitating the transfer and dissemination, on a wider scale, innovatory approaches and methods developed under this programme; whereas the Commission, in partnership with social partners, is endeavouring to develop cooperation between this programme and the activities of the Community social dialogue;

Whereas the Agreement on the European Economic Area (‘EEA Agreement’) provides for greater cooperation in the field of education, vocational training and youth between the European Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and the countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) participating in the European Economic Area, (‘EFTA/EEA countries’), on the other;

Whereas provision should be made to open up this programme to participation of: the associated central and eastern European countries (CEEC), in accordance with the conditions established in the Europe Agreements, in their additional protocols and in the decisions of the respective Association Councils; Cyprus under the same conditions as those applied to the EFTA/EEA countries, funded by additional appropriations in accordance with the procedures to be agreed with that country; and Malta and Turkey, funded by additional appropriations in accordance with the Treaty;

Whereas this programme should be regularly monitored and evaluated in cooperation between the Commission and the Member States in order to allow for readjustments, particularly in the priorities for implementing the measures;

Whereas a financial reference amount, within the meaning of point 2 of the Declaration by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 March 1995^f5, is included in this Decision for the entire duration of the programme, without thereby affecting the powers of the budgetary authority as they are defined by the Treaty;

Whereas, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of proportionality as set out in Article 3b of the Treaty, since the objectives of the proposed action concerning the implementation of a vocational training policy at Community level cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States given the complexity of vocational training partnerships; they can therefore be better achieved by the Community owing to the transnational dimension of the Community actions and measures; whereas this Decision is limited to the minimum required to achieve these objectives and does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve these objectives,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: