8 EC research and development programme
for 2007-13
| (a)
(26879)
12736/05
COM(05) 440
(b)
(26881)
12730/05
COM(05) 441
(c)
(26882)
12731/05
COM 05) 442
(d)
(26880)
12729/05
COM(05) 443
(e)
(26876)
12727/05
COM(05) 439
| (a)
Draft Decision on the specific programme "Cooperation" implementing the European Community's 7th Framework Programme (2007-13) for research, technological development and demonstration activities
(b)
Draft Decision on the specific programme "Ideas" implementing the European Community's 7th Framework Programme (2007-13) for research, technological development and demonstration activities
(c)
Draft decision on the specific programme "People" implementing the European Community's 7th Framework Programme (2007-13) for research, technological development and demonstration activities
(d)
Draft Decision on the specific programme "Capacities" implementing the European Community's 7th Framework Programme (2007-13) for research, technological development and demonstration activities
(e)
Draft Decision on the specific programme to be carried out by the Joint Research Centre under the European Community's 7th Framework Programme (2007-13) for research, technological development and demonstration activities
|
| Legal base | Article 166(3) EC; — ; QMV
|
| Document originated | 21 September 2005
|
| Deposited in Parliament | (a) and (e) 30 September 2005
(b), (c) and (d) 3 October 2005
|
| Department | Trade and Industry
|
| Basis of consideration | EM of 13 October 2005
|
| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (26581) 8087/05: HC 34-i (2005-06), para 21 (4 July 2005) and HC 34-v (2005-06), para 18 (12 October 2005)
|
| To be discussed in Council | No date fixed
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Not cleared; reports on progress requested
|
Background
8.1 In July, we considered a draft Decision to establish the EC's
7th Framework Programme for research, technological
development and demonstration activities (R&D) for 2007-13.[26]
It proposes "specific programmes" on:
- Cooperation;
- Ideas;
- People;
- Capacities; and
- non-nuclear work by the EC's Joint Research Centre.
8.2 The legal base for the draft Decision to establish
the Framework Programme is Article 166(1) of the EC Treaty. Article
166(3) provides that Framework Programmes are to be given effect
through specific programmes, each of which defines the detailed
rules for implementing it, fixes its duration and provides the
funds it requires.
The documents
8.3 The purpose of these five draft Decisions is
to establish the specific programmes listed above.
8.4 Document (a) proposes that the specific
programme on Cooperation should have nine themes:
- Health;
- Food, agriculture and biotechnology;
- Information and communication technologies;
- Nanosciences, nanotechnologies, materials and
new production technologies;
- Energy;
- Environment (including climate change);
- Transport (including aeronautics);
- Socio-economic sciences and the humanities; and
- Security and space.
8.5 The budget for the Cooperation programme would
be €44.432 billion. Annex I of the document gives details
of the R&D proposed under each of the themes. Annex II provides
an indicative allocation of the budget between the themes. Annex
III makes proposals for a risk-sharing finance facility and for
Joint Technology Initiatives.[27]
8.6 Document (b) proposes that the Ideas programme
should support basic (or "frontier") research, which
would be "investigator driven". It would support R&D
on any subject within the scope of the Framework Programme and
would be carried out by research teams who would be in competition
with each other for funding. The draft Decision provides for the
creation of a European Research Council to decide the work programme
and the criteria for selecting projects and to monitor the scientific
quality of the work produced. The members of the Research Council
would be eminent scientists, appointed by the Commission; they
would act in a personal capacity and with complete independence.
Annex I of the document describes the programme's objectives and
activities. The Commission proposes that the programme's budget
for 2007-13 should be €11.862 billion.
8.7 Document (c) proposes that the purpose
of the People programme should be to develop and strengthen the
human potential of European research through financial support
for training and the mobility of researchers. The aim would be
to stimulate suitable people to become researchers and to encourage
researchers to remain in, or move to, the EU. The programme's
budget for 2007-13 would be €7.129 billion. An Annex describes
the proposed objectives of the programme and the activities to
be funded from it.
8.8 Document (d) proposes that the purpose
of the Capacities programme should be to strengthen research and
innovation capacities throughout the EU by financial support for:
- research infrastructures (such
as highly specialised measuring facilities required for nanotechnology);
- research by, and for the benefit of, small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs);
- the development of "research-driven clusters"
within regions;
- unlocking the research potential of the EU's
convergence and outermost regions;
- research on "science in society"; and
- international cooperation in R&D.
The Commission proposes that the programme's budget
for 2007-13 should be €7.486 billion. Annex I proposes the
objectives of the Capacities programme and the activities to be
supported by it. Annex II contains an indicative allocation of
the programme's budget between the activities. Annex III proposes
a "risk sharing facility" (that is, a grant from the
Commission to the European Investment Bank with the aim of fostering
private sector investment in R&D by increasing the Bank's
capacity to make loans for riskier projects).
8.9 Document (e) proposes that the objective
of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) programme should be "to
provide customer-driven scientific and technical support to the
EU policy making process, ensuring support to the implementation
and monitoring of existing policies and responding to new policy
demands."[28] The
Commission proposes that the JRC should build partnerships and
networks with universities, industry and public bodies; and should
provide information about and analyses of, for example, the link
between the environment and health, climate change, life sciences
and biotechnology, competitiveness and innovation. The programme's
budget would be €1.817 billion.
8.10 All five documents contain provisions requiring
research activities to be carried out in compliance with fundamental
ethical principles; and prohibiting funding for research on human
cloning, modification of human genes or the creation of human
embryos purely for the purposes of research or the procurement
of stem cells.
The Government's view
8.11 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Science and Innovation at the Department of Trade and Industry
(Lord Sainsbury of Turville) tells us that the Government welcomes
the draft Decisions on the specific programmes, which provide
more information about the proposals in the draft Decision for
the establishment of the 7th Framework Programme. There
are issues in each of the documents which are sensitive and will
require detailed discussion. For example, many Member States have
questions about the need for Joint Technology Initiatives under
the Cooperation programme.
8.12 The Minister also tells us that, while the Government
recognises:
"an a priori case for an increased focus
on R&D this must be within an overall EU budget of no more
that 1% of GNI [Gross National Income] and consistent with the
Commission's capacity to manage and absorb the funds. We also
believe that any increase in budget should be linked to clear
European added value."
He adds that the Council will be unable to adopt
the draft Decisions until after the EU's overall budget for 2007-13
has been agreed.
Conclusion
8.13 These documents fill out the information
about the five specific R&D programmes which was provided
in the draft Framework Decision we considered in July. For that
reason, we draw the documents to the attention of the House.
8.14 The negotiations on the documents have not
yet begun and the outcomes are likely to be affected by the decision
on the size of the EU's overall budget. There are no questions
that we wish to put to the Minister at this stage but we emphasise
the importance, during the Council discussions, of taking account
of the lessons from the evaluations of previous programmes. We
should be grateful if he would provide us with progress reports
on the negotiations. Meanwhile, we shall keep documents (a) to
(e) under scrutiny.
26 See headnote. Back
27
Joint Technology Initiatives would be long-term partnerships between
the private and public sectors for R&D on, for example, nanoelectronics
and fuel cell technologies. Back
28
Annex to document (e), first paragraph. Back
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