The Commission has a number of reservations concerning the Council's common position. These relate to :
- the duration of the programme : the Commission considers that a five-year programme would have been preferable so as not to straitjacket objectives and arrangements for the Community action in an area which is subject to substantial change and which requires constant anticipation, adaptation and innovation;
- on the budget for the second phase of the programme, the Commission feels that the amount adopted in the common position inadequately reflects the priority given to the area of education and training in Agenda 2000.
- as regards the inclusion of minimum thresholds per action to distribute the programme budget, the Commission feels that these arrangements bring in elements of inflexibility into the programme implementation which could seriously hamper its capacity to adjust to new requirements, particularly as the duration of the programme has now been extended to seven years.
- on the project selection procedures, the Commission is still attached to the objective of increased simplification, efficacy and transparrency for the programme's beneficiaries. It is concerned that these could lead to confusion with regard to the division of responsibility between the Commission, Member States, the national agencies and the programme committee.�