- To adapt specific ancestral trades to new technology and modern techniques of communication. (diversification of activities, economic and social approach).

- To preserve European know-how and expertise unique in the world and threatened in the not too distant future.

- Target : church tower and steeple engineering : bell casters, monumental mechanical clock specialists, belfry technicians, manufacturers or electronic automation, lightning conductors and weathercocks.

- To create an interregional industrial network in the field of church tower and steeple engineering allowing for a transfer of regional experiences in regard to the maintenance of specialized jobs in Europe, following the completion of initial and then on-going training programmes.

- The development of good methods linked to the creation of employment in the partner regions 1 and 5b.

- To evaluate the church tower and steeple engineering market in the regions aided by the European Union and likely to benefit from the sharing of experiences.

- To develop the perspectives for long term employment in target regions and to spread this information throughout Europe with the aid of new information technology (CD ROM, Internet).

- To establish an inventory of innovative experiences and to thereby create a catalogue of methods.

- To work closely as partners with public the public sector (regional networks) and the private sector (networks of SMEs, creators of long term employment).

- The establishment of seminars and training programmes by sector in the  concerned branches.

- The comparing of techniques at the work site and the exchanging of experiences.

- The development of common activities in the field.

- The acquisition of specific equipment for use in methods’ training programmes and for the transfer of expertise.

- The creation of a large itinerant exhibition with the participation of all partners to demonstrate the reality of the European network and the determination to participate in a project on behalf of the European community.

- An inventory of innovative experiences by region which contributes to the maintenance of long term employment in SMEs specialized in the church tower and steeple industry. These are particularly effective on the European level.
(The first interregional meeting, at the end of feasibility phase, interviews with company managers, master clockmakers, elected officials).

- The analysis of the methodological aspects of the growth of employment at the local level : calculated information on these aspects and their interaction with other economic, social and cultural factors (2nd interregional meeting). Two aspects :
a catalogue listing the specialized industries, a methodological guidebook for the communities (maintenance of their church tower and steeple and the accoutrements such as lightning conductor, weathercock, bells and electronic automation).

- The presentation of a catalogue of experiences divided into five "levels in the creation of long term employment" (from the end of the initial and on-going training programmes to the creation of jobs for independent workers, salaried workers and specialized workers) ; (3rd interregional meeting with company managers in partnership with the private and public sector).
This catalogue is also available on CD ROM.

- the exchange of information and economic approaches.

- the maintenance of European supremacy in the field of church tower and
steeple engineering.

- the adaptation of new technology for the protection of national heritage.

- the support of a cultural tradition assumed by SMEs and SMIs.

 

Quantifying :

- the bringing of high level training in clock making and the contributing to
the answering of a question not satisfied by the European markets ; the creation
of employment.

- the diversification of activities in foundries to increase economic potential :   training programmes in the transmission of new techniques ; creation of tourist activities, creation of jobs ...

1st phase :

At the end of the first phase of the RECITE programme (feasibility phase of the Commission). This phase can be defined as the scrupulous work of the partners amongst themselves : INVENTORY

• Fundamental information for a catalogue of experiences both in the creation of or the training for long term jobs as master clock makers and for the church tower and steeple industry as :
  "a specialized European industry, unique in the world".
  
• Inventory of key elements of the methods used for the restoration and the maintenance of church tower and steeples (more than 70,000 communities
  are concerned by the question of maintenance of the accoutrements of their church tower and steeples). It would be necessary to create a user’s guide,
  a methodological guide for the communal maintenance of the church tower and steeple related objects.

In the final phase of feasibility, the interregional group compiled a list of
pilot initiatives.

 

2nd phase :

Linked to the intermediary report phase of the Commission : PRODUCTION

After the experiences were collected, the methodological results evaluated and
the experience in the field compared, there was a consolidation phase with openings made to institutional partners in the private and public sector
(SMEs specialized in church tower and steeple industries, chambers of commerce, technical training schools).

- The project gave complete control to the network based on the specialized competence of the partners in this field : the development of long term employment in church tower and steeple industries.

- The evaluation a posteriori (the results) compared to the evaluation a priori was considerably more relevant at the Commission level because of the second phase which gave the results to the public.

At the end of the project and with the delivery of the final report, the programme was closed at a final conference.

- An "open" community charter for a "policy for the preservation of the church tower and steeple industry and the preservation of the resources for monumental clock making" was the basis for a singular agreement on the interregional level.
The intention was to "identify and promote the preservation of this industrial speciality unique in the world, by favourizing beginning and on-going training courses for trades which have become extremely rare". This was the first European text written in the context of a programme initiated by the Commission in view of promoting employment and in line with the "community employment framework" which applies to member states in respect to the subsidiary principle.