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

1998/0336(COD)
The Commission's amended proposal takes up, either in their totality or partically, 32 of the 44 amendments adopted by the European Parliament in its first reading. The main modifications introduced by the Commission concern the following points: - LIFE's contribution to sustainable development in the Community, as well as to the development of Community policy in the environment field, in particular in regard to the integration of the environment within other policies, implementation and the updating of environmental legislation; - the strengthening of the dimension of LIFE as a financial instrument that is specific and complementary to other Community instruments, without limiting LIFE interventions to fields not covered by other Community financial instruments; - improvement of the efficiency, transparency and methodology of procedures for the implementation of LIFE, information and public dissemination procedures and procedures for cooperation between the beneficiaries; - the objective of LIFE: it has to mainly focus on sustainable urban development in close association with pilot projects undertaken within the URBAN initiative; - the taking into consideration of results achieved by individual actions implemented under LIFE as well as the experience acquired through these actions; - the development of innovative actions in the environment field, through preparatory projects; - the contribution of supported projects to the sustainability of socio-economic activities, and, as a consequence, job creation; - the need to evaluate and exploit the results of projects in Community policies; - the examination, by the European Parliament and the Council, of the opportunity to follow up the LIFE action after the third phase.�