The European Commission carried out an assessment of the National Action Plans for social inclusion (NAPs/inclusion) that all Member States submitted in July 2003, and adopted a Draft Joint Report on Social Inclusion in the form of a communication to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Commmittee and the Committee of Regions [COM(2003) 773 final, of 12 December 2003]. The Statistical Annex to this report was adopted as a working document of the Commission staff [SEC(2003)1425]. Following examination by the Member States and the European Commission in the Social Protection Committee, the Draft Joint Report on Social Inclusion was formally adopted as a Joint Council/Commission text by the Council in March 2004. It was then sent to the European Council of Spring 2004. This is the second round of the EU social inclusion process that was launched in 2001 on the basis of the Open Method of Coordination and the common objectives endorsed by the Nice European Council. The first round has produced a Joint Inclusion Report that was presented at the Laeken European Council in December 2001.