Daphne II programme 2004-2008: combating violence against children, young people and women

The committee adopted the report by Lissy GRÖNER (PES, D) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure. In particular, the committee wanted to increase the programme's budget from EUR 41 million for the period 2004-2008 (as proposed by the Commission) to EUR 50 million. It also specified that the commitment appropriations scheduled after 2006 are subject to an agreement of the Budgetary Authority on the financial perspective beyond 2006. MEPs also stressed the need to ensure consistency and complementarity with relevant Community policies and instruments, possibly by establishing links with other Community programmes. They added that other countries with which the EU has partnership and cooperation agreements (such as Eastern European, Central Asian, ACP and Mediterranean countries) should be able to participate in the programme. Other amendments sought to ensure that the following measures were also included in the programme: - projects involving women and children brought to the Member States through human trafficking; - programmes to study the situation of street children in cities; - developing filters to prevent the forwarding of paedophile material via the Internet; - the establishment of a European database for missing persons, in conjunction with Interpol and Europol; - preparing for a "European Year against Violence".�