LIFE III, financial instrument for environment: actions after 31.12.1999 (repeal. Regulation (EEC) No 1973/92)

The Conciliation Committee reached agreement on a joint text for the regulation on the LIFE III programme. A budget of 640 million euro was agreed for the five-year programme, representing an increase of 27 million euro over the Council's common position. A compromise was also reached on the commitology issue. On the other questions, the Council accepted the amendments relating to the programme's objectives and the submission of a proposal for a follow-up programme (LIFE IV) in the wording proposed by the Commission. It was also agreed that the relevant deadlines for submitting and selecting projects should be fixed annually by the Commission in accordance with the relevant commitology procedure. Parliament's delegation felt that the agreement reached, particularly for the LIFE III budget, could be considered satisfactory and therefore proposed that Parliament adopt the regulation at third reading.�