L 138/40 Official Journal of the European Union 30.4.2004 DECISION No 792/2004/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 April 2004 establishing a Community action programme to promote bodies active at European level in the THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE field of culture 4 EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 151(5) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having consulted the Committee of the Regions, Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (), Whereas: The Treaty confers responsibility on the Community for creating an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe and for contributing to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States, while respecting their national and regional diversity and at the same time bringing the common cultural heritage to the fore. The Laeken Declaration annexed to the conclusions of the European Council of 14 and 15 December 2001 asserts that one of the basic challenges to be resolved by the European Union is to bring citizens closer to the European design and the European institutions. The Council and the Ministers of Culture meeting within the Council, in the Resolution of 14 November 1991 on European cultural networks (?), stressed the important role of networks of cultural organisations in cultural cooperation in Europe, and agreed to encourage the cultural organisations in their countries to participate actively in non-governmental cooperation on a European scale. (!) Opinion of the European Parliament of 6 November 2003 (not yet published in the Official Journal). Council Common Position of 22 December 2003 (O] 72 E, 23.3.2004, p. 10), Position of the European Parliament of 10 March 2004 (not yet published Official Journal) and Decision of the Council of 30 March 2004. () 0] C 314, 5.12.1991, p. 1. in the The Council Resolution of 19 December 2002 (%) expressed how the European added value of cultural actions can be identified and evaluated. Heading A-3042 of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2003 and previous financial years provides support for organisations of European cultural interest. Further to the resolutions of the European Parliament on regional languages and cultures, the European Union has engaged in action to promote and safeguard the linguistic diversity in the Union, in order to preserve languages as an element in Europe’s living cultural heritage. At the request of the European Parliament, the Commission has provided support since 1982 for a non-profit-making body, the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages (EBLUL), which is organised as a network of national committees working in the Member States, and since 1987 for the Mercator information and documentation network. These pursue an aim of general European interest: EBLUL represents all regional or minority language communities in the European Union and disseminates European information in these communities;  the  Mercator  information  and documentation network collects and disseminates at European level information on three aspects which are essential to the promotion of regional and minority languages: education, legislation and the media. Heading A-3015 of the general budget of the European Union for the financial year 2003 and previous financial years provides support for these two bodies. On 11 February 1993, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on European and international preservation of the sites of Nazi concentration camps as historical memorials (4. () O] C 13, 18.1.2003, p. 5. () O] C 72, 15.3.1993, p. 118.