12.1.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 10/1 (Acts whose publication is obligatory) DECISION No 50/2002/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 7 December 2001 establishing a programme of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the second and third subpara- graphs of Article 137(2) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (3), Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (%), in the light of the joint text approved by the Conciliation Committee on 18 September 2001, Whereas: (1) Pursuant to Article 2 of the Treaty, the Community shall have as part of its tasks that of promoting a high level of employment and of social protection and the raising of the standard of living and quality of life throughout the Community and economic and social cohesion. (2)  Pursuant to Article 136 of the Treaty, the Community and the Member States, taking note of fundamental political principles, such as those set out in the European Social Charter signed at Turin on 18 October 1961, the revised Social Charter of the Council of Europe (1996), in particular in Article 30 thereof on the right to protec- tion against poverty and social exclusion, and in the 1989 Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers, and bearing in mind also the rights and principles recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (°) proclaimed jointly by the European Parliament, the Council and the Commis- (*) OJ C 337 E, 28.11.2000, p. 130 and O] C 96 E, 27.3.2001, p. 229. () O] C 14, 16.1.2001, p. 69. () O] C 144, 16.5.2001, p. 52. (*) Opinion of the European Parliament of 16 November 2000 (O] C 223, 8.8.2001, p. 284), Council Common Position of 12 February 2001 (O] C 93, 23.3.2001, p. 11) and Decision of the European Parliament of 17 May 2001. Decision of the European Parliament of 15 November 2001 and Council Decision of 21 November 2001. () O] C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1. sion on 7 December 2000, shall have as an objective the combating of exclusion. (3 In its Recommendation 92[441[EEC (%), the Council recommends that Member States should recognise the basic right of a person to sufficient resources and social assistance to live in a manner compatible with human dignity. In Recommendation 92/442EEC (), the Council recommends that Member States should guarantee a level of resources in keeping with human dignity. In its Conclusions of 17 December 1999 (%), the Council commits itself to promoting social inclusion as one of the objectives of the modernisation and improvement of social protection systems. (4  The European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions have all urged the Community to strengthen its contribution to efforts in Member States to prevent and to combat social exclusion. (5 The Commission communication of 1 March 2000, ‘Building an inclusive Europe’, described the challenge of social exclusion and poverty and the existing policy responses in Member States and at Community level, and proposed on this basis to give a new impetus to cooperation of the European Union in this field. (6)  The Lisbon European Council of 23 and 24 March 2000 incorporated as intrinsic to the overall strategy of the Union the promotion of social inclusion to achieve its strategic goal for the next decade of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth, with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. (7)  The said Lisbon European Council, finding the number of people living below the poverty line and in social exclusion in the Union unacceptable, deemed it neces- (9 O] L 245, 26.8.1992, p. 46. () O] L 245, 26.8.1992, p. 49. (% O] C 8, 12.1.2000, p. 7.