On 5 October, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council to declare 2008 “European Year of Intercultural Dialogue”.  The new European Year will draw on the wealth and diversity of a series of specific projects to be implemented during 2008 through programmes and other Community actions. Culture, education, youth, sport and citizenship will be the main areas concerned.

Calls for proposals and overall project spending have been allocated a budget of € 10 million to fund three types of activities:

• an information campaign promoting the objectives of the European Year – to be identified by a logo – which could account for half of the budget;
• grants for actions at Community level, geared towards a limited number of emblematic actions on a Community scale (e.g. major festivals or sporting events) intended to raise awareness, especially among young people, of the objectives of the European Year;
• co-financing of actions at national level with a strong European dimension.

This proposal must now be examined by the European Parliament and the Council for adoption under the co-decision procedure by the end of 2006.