L 36/40 Official Journal of the European Union 8.2.2006 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 30 January 2006 amending and extending Decision 2001/923/EC establishing an exchange, assistance and training programme for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting (the ‘Pericles’ programme) (2006/75[EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the third sentence of Article 123(4) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the opinion of the European Parliament (%), Having regard to the opinion of the European Central Bank (2), Whereas: (1) In accordance with Article 13(3)(a) of Council Decision 2001/923[EC (), the Commission is to send to the European Parliament and to the Council by 30 June 2005 a report, which shall be independent of the programme manager, evaluating the relevance, the effi- ciency and the effectiveness of the programme and a communication on whether this programme should be continued and adapted, accompanied by an appropriate proposal. (2)  The evaluation report provided for in Article 13 of that Decision was issued on 30 November 2004. It concludes that the programme has been achieving its objectives and recommends that the programme be continued. (3) A financial reference amount, within the meaning of point 34 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council (1) Opinion delivered on 13 October 2005 following non-compulsory consultation (not yet published in the Official Journal). ® 0O C 161, 1.7.2005, p. 11. () OJ L 339, 21.12.2001, p. 50. and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure (¥ is included in the Decision for the entire duration of the programme, without thereby affecting the powers of the budgetary authority as they are defined by the Treaty. (4)  The continuation of the programme reflects the need for continuing vigilance, training and technical assistance necessary to sustain the protection of the euro against counterfeiting. (5)  The efficiency of the programme in protecting the euro could be enhanced if the technical support were enlarged also to provide, with the involvement of Europol, for financial support for cooperation in cross-border operations and it could benefit, in duly justified cases, from greater flexibility in the proportion of the costs the Community may bear and in the number of projects one Member State may present. (6)  Decision 2001/923/EC should therefore be amended accordingly, HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: Article 1 Amendments Decision 2001/923/EC is hereby amended as follows: 1. the last sentence of Article 1(2) shall be replaced by the following: It shall run from 1 January 2002 to 31 December 2006.; ( 0] C 172, 18.6.1999, p. 1.