EUROPA

SUMMARY

This decision sets up the ‘Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency’ in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 and repeals Decision 2005/56/EC, which originally created the agency. The agency is established for the period 1 January 2005 – 31 December 2015 to manage Community action in these three fields. It is located in Brussels.

Objectives and tasks

The agency is responsible for managing certain strands of the following Community programmes:

• programmes encouraging the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works (MEDIA II 1996-2000 and MEDIA Plus 2001-06);
• training programmes for professionals in the European audiovisual industry (MEDIA II – Training 1996-2000 and MEDIA – Training 2001-06);
• the MEDIA 2007 programme of support for the European audiovisual sector (2007-13);
• Community action programmes to promote active European citizenship (civic participation 2004-06 and ‘Europe for Citizens’ 2007-13);
• the Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level in the field of youth (2004-06);
• the ‘Youth’ (2000-06) and ‘Youth in Action’ (2007-13) Community action programmes;
• the Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level in the field of culture (2004-06);
• the ‘Culture 2000’ (2000-06) and ‘Culture’ (2007-13) programmes;
• the second phase of the Community action programme in the field of education ‘Socrates’ (2000-06);
• the second phase of the Community action programme in the area of vocational training ‘Leonardo da Vinci’ (2000-06);
• the multiannual programme for the effective integration of information and communication technologies in education and training systems in Europe ‘eLearning’ (2004-06);
• the Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level and support specific activities in the field of education and training (2004-06);
• the action programme in the field of lifelong learning (2007-13).

The agency is also responsible for managing the following external relations programmes in the field of education:

• the programme for the enhancement of quality in higher education and the promotion of intercultural understanding through cooperation with third countries (Erasmus Mundus 2004-08);
• the External Cooperation Window (EM ECW) co-operation and mobility scheme;
• Erasmus Mundus 2009-13 programme, directly incorporating the ECW action 2;
• projects eligible for funding under the agreements between the European Community and the United States of America renewing the programme of cooperation in the field of higher education, vocational education and training (2001-05 and 2006-13);
• projects eligible for funding under the agreements between the European Community and the government of Canada renewing a cooperation programme in higher education, training and youth (2001-05 and 2006-13);
• joint mobility projects eligible for funding under the Industrialised Cooperation Instrument Education Cooperation Programme (ICI ECP) agreement between the European Community and the governments of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea;
• the third and fourth phases of trans-European cooperation scheme for higher education (Tempus III 2000-06 and Tempus IV 2007- 2013).

Furthermore, the agency is responsible for the earlier external cooperation projects on higher education funded under the provisions of the following:

• economic aid for certain countries of central and eastern Europe (Phare);
• assistance for the partner states of eastern Europe and central Asia (Tacis);
• assistance for Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo (CARDS);
• financial and technical measures to accompany the reform of economic and social structures in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership (MEDA);
• aid for economic cooperation with developing countries in Asia (1992-06);
• the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA);
• the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI);
• the financing instrument for development cooperation (DCI);
• the financing instrument for cooperation with industrialised and other high-income countries and territories (ICI);
• the 9^th European Development Fund (EDF).

With regard to these programmes, the agency is in particular responsible for the following tasks:

• managing the projects entrusted to it in the context of implementation of Community programmes throughout their duration;
• adopting the budget implementation instruments for revenue and expenditure and carrying out some, or all, of the operations necessary for the management of the Community programmes, including those linked to the awarding of grants and contracts;
• gathering, analysing and passing on to the Commission all the information needed to guide the implementation of the Community programmes;
• implementing the Eurydice network for the collection, analysis and dissemination of information and the production of studies and publications.

The agency may also be entrusted to carry out other similar tasks in the education, audiovisual and culture fields. In such a case, the Commission decision delegating tasks to the agency will be adapted accordingly.

Structure, grants and supervision

The Commission appoints a steering committee and a Director to manage the agency; the former for a period of two and the latter for a period of four years. For its operation, the agency is allocated a grant entered in the general budget of the European Union as well as finances from the European Development Fund. The Commission is responsible for supervising the agency. The agency must report to it regularly on the implementation of the programmes for which it is responsible.