Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-06-13-Speech-2-012"
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".
Mr President, after over a year of intensive debate, the European Parliament will vote the day after tomorrow on the first reading of the Seventh Framework Programme.
Preparations for the Seventh Framework Programme in the European Parliament were linked with the ‘Competitiveness and Innovation’ programme. I would like to thank the rapporteur working on that programme, Mr Chatzimarkakis, for a particularly fruitful collaboration.
Around 1 700 amendments were tabled, which reflects the enormous amount of interest in the programme. Each amendment was the result of talks and meetings in sometimes distant parts of Europe. Thanks to compromises we eventually managed to reduce the number of amendments to 315, and these will not affect either the structure or the basic principles of the programme.
As far as the content of the amendments is concerned, I would like to highlight a few of the most important issues. Firstly, in Parliament’s view, the compromise amendments play a key role, and the greatest emphasis will be placed on these amendments during our negotiations with the Council and Commission. Secondly, the budget amendment is particularly important as it reflects the priorities of the European Parliament, namely people, the European Research Council, fundamental research, small and medium-sized enterprises, energy and health. Thirdly, there is no doubt as to the need to ensure the full independence and autonomy of the European Research Council. Fourthly, it is important to simplify procedures and to facilitate the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Framework Programme. Fifthly, emphasis needs to be placed on scientists in the development phase, as it is often the scientists who show the greatest creativity and inventiveness. We therefore must ensure the development of their scientific careers in Europe. In sixth place, the division of the thematic priorities security and space seems indispensable. Finally, as rapporteur I tried to reach as broad a compromise as possible concerning embryonic stem cell research. It has not been easy, and I hope that on Thursday we will be able to find a solution that a clear majority in Parliament will support.
As far as EURATOM is concerned, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy was happy to adopt the proposal of the European Commission by a significant majority. At this point, I would like to express my admiration for the work of the Joint European Research Centre. The research carried out by this centre forms part of the framework programmes and yields extremely valuable results.
Finally, I would like to state that in its work on the Seventh Framework Programme, the European Parliament has acted quickly, effectively and decisively. It has shown great maturity and political responsibility. I hope that the momentum will be maintained and the Seventh Framework Programme will be launched on 1 January 2007.
The European scientific community and industry are waiting for a favourable start to the Seventh Framework Programme. Everyone in the European Union awaits the success of the Lisbon Strategy.
The report is the result of the efforts of many people. I would like to express my warm thanks to these people today, namely the Luxembourg, UK and Finnish Presidencies and, above all, the Austrian Presidency, the European Commission, and Commissioner Potočnik in particular, the members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy and its chairmen, and in particular the shadow rapporteurs who are here today, who drafted the opinions of eight parliamentary committees. I would like to thank the coordinators of and advisors to the political groups and the advisors and officials of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.
The debate in the European Parliament has been open and transparent. During certain periods, the working groups met every day for a number of hours. Everyone had the time and the opportunity to express their opinions and comments. I believe that our joint work has borne fruit in the form of a good report.
I also took part in a large number of conferences, seminars and meetings outside the European Parliament, organised by the European Commission, the Member States, universities, regions and non-governmental organisations. A high level of interest in research and learning at European level was evident everywhere. We should take advantage of this enthusiasm and potential, as well as fulfilling expectations related to the Seventh Framework Programme.
The debate was not easy, especially due to the absence of a financial perspective. The cooperation with Commissioner Potočnik and the Commission was a great help, however.
The negotiated budget is not an ideal budget, but the earmarking of more than EUR 50 billion for research, learning and innovation is a step in the right direction for the European Union. It is the direction set by the Lisbon Strategy and a knowledge-based economy.
The European Parliament strongly supports the structure and the main principles of the Seventh Framework Programme. This programme takes into account the guidelines featured in the Kok and Marimon reports and especially the Locatelli report, which was presented by the European Parliament at the start of 2005. The Seventh Framework Programme therefore contains completely new ideas and instruments, such as the European Research Council, which will be concerned with fundamental research, joint technology initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation between science and industry and at innovation, or initiatives such as investment in research infrastructure.
We also have new thematic priorities, namely security and space, and also socio-economic research. The Seventh Framework Programme also ensures an appropriate continuation of the Sixth Programme with regard to the building of a European Research Area, begun by the previous Commissioner, Mr Busquin. The continuity of the programme affects current thematic priorities, and excellent experience is being built on with regard to the mobility and training of scientists, and especially the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Programme.
The European Parliament has its own priorities within the Seventh Framework Programme. I will name the four most important ones. The first priority is excellence as a criterion for all projects and decisions within the scope of the programme. In order to achieve this, we also have to exploit the potential of each project in terms of experience, research infrastructure, recruiting the best scientists, achievements in various European Union countries and regions and the effective use of financial resources. The second priority is the chapter ‘People’ and all initiatives related to the full development of research personnel in Europe and preventing brain drain. Parliament’s third priority is fundamental research, described in the chapter on ‘Ideas’, and linked with the European Research Council. Scientists in the European Union have been waiting for such an initiative for many years. The fourth European Parliament priority is an emphasis on innovation, and overcoming the European paradox of good research but relatively weak innovation. We need to bring science closer to technology and universities closer to industry, and so we need to focus on small and medium-sized enterprises and their role in research. We strongly support European technology platforms."@en1
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