Press Release
François Biltgen and Janez Potocnik discussed the agenda of the "Research" component for the forthcoming meetings of the "Competitiveness" Council

Date of release : 01-03-2005

Policy area : Competitiveness (Internal market, Industry and Research) Competitiveness (Internal market, Industry and Research)

In the context of the Luxembourg Presidency, François Biltgen, Minister for Culture, Higher Education and Research, met Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research, in Brussels on 28 February 2005.

This discussion provided the opportunity for an exchange of views on the agenda for the forthcoming meetings of the "Competitiveness" Council in the context of Community research activities. These meetings are to take place on 7 March, 18 April, and 6 and 7 June 2005. The discussions also revolved around the mid-term revision of the Lisbon Strategy, which will identify research and innovation as one of the major policy priority areas in which the European Union and the different Member States must make progress. Thus, there are plans for the Commission and Council to reaffirm the Barcelona Objective, in other words, spending on research and development should increase to approach 3% of GDP until 2010.

Another point of discussion was the future seventh European Community framework programme for research and development, which probably will be for the period from 2007 to 2013. The Commission will introduce its formal proposal on 6 April 2005 and, as stated in its proposal on financial perspectives, will request that the budget be doubled compared to the sixth framework programme, which is the equivalent of annual spending of roughly ten billion euro for Community research activities. The European Parliament is likely to support this proposal for doubling the budget. Parliament will vote next week on the report on future orientations for the policy to support the Union’s research.

The Commission’s formal proposal will be introduced to the "Competitiveness" Council on 18 April. This will give the research ministers an opportunity for an initial exchange of views. The "Competitiveness" Council meeting of 6 and 7 June will be the opportunity for a policy debate in which the Luxembourg Presidency hopes to reach conclusions on some pillars of the seventh framework programme.