News & Views item - January  2005

 

 

A Few More Details Emerge with Regard to the European Union's Framework Programme 7. (January 16, 2005)

    TFW reported on December 3rd "In Brussels last week a meeting of the European Union's (E.U.'s) science, education, and industry ministers voted 23 to 2 for the creation of a European Research Council (ERC) and asked the European Commission to develop a proposal."

 

Now Nature has added some detail.

In preparing its plans, the EU Research Commission has taken into account various political demands, including the 'Lisbon objectives', set out in 2000, which aim to increase Europe's long-term competitiveness by strengthening research. In view of these, it will request that the four-year budget be more than doubled to some €30 billion [A$52 billion].

After publication, the plan has to be approved by both the European Parliament and the European Council. To ensure a smooth transition from FP6, which runs until 2006, final approval will be sought this September. This approval process has previously reduced Framework programmes and increased the bureaucratic burden on grantees. But Janez Potočnik, the Slovenian economist who became EU research commissioner in November, remains confident. "I hope we won't be forced to cut priorities that were favoured in Lisbon," he says, adding that he doesn't expect this to happen.

A separate budget for a European Research Council will probably be included in the proposal. Some fear that the creation of this council could make the basic-research component of FP7 politically vulnerable, but Potočnik says he will fight to maintain it. "Basic research is fundamental to our plans at all levels," he says.