The committee adopted the recommendation for second reading (codecision procedure) by Marie-Noëlle LIENEMANN (PES, F) amending the Council's common position. The main change proposed by the committee involved increasing the financial framework from EUR 613 million, as proposed by the Commission and agreed by the Council, to EUR 850 million for the third phase of the LIFE programme (2000-2004). The committee noted that the budget allocated to the LIFE programme had not been adapted since its inception, not even after the number of Member States had increased to 15 following the last enlargement of the EC, and that applications for LIFE funding far outstripped the current budgetary provision. It therefore felt that funding levels should be raised from the start of LIFE III. If the report was adopted in plenary, then conciliation would have to follow under the codecision procedure in order to settle the issue of funding for the programme. Other amendments included changes to the commitology procedure and the introduction of a provision ensuring that the LIFE programme would be continued (into a fourth phase) and that Parliament would be involved in the preparations for the next regulation.�