Written Answers. - EU Presidency.
Kathleen Lynch
Question:
19
Kathleen Lynch
asked the
Minister for Enterprise and Employment
the progress, if any, made at the EU Research Council during Ireland's Presidency of the EU; the further priorities, if any, he has during the Presidency in respect of research; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[23155/96]
I am very pleased to be able to report solid progress if not outright success on all the items on the Irish Presidency agenda including the specific Presidency initiatives we undertook.
Two research councils were scheduled in the Presidency calendar, the first on 7 October and the second one on Thursday of this week, 5 December.
All of the items on the agenda for the December council have important implications and I would list them as follows:
The Irish Presidency has been very very conscious of the BSE/CJD concerns all over Europe. The Presidency has drawn up council conclusions which call for an enhanced research effort. I am pleased to inform the House that the council later this week will approve these conclusions, which include funding for a major research action plan on transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, including BSE and human related diseases. The conclusions take on board the report of a high-level scientific group chaired by the Austrian scientist Dr. Weissman, which recommended targeted research in specific areas. I have no doubt that news of new funding for research on this important topic will be welcomed by consumer, agricultural and health interests and will also act to restore consumer confidence.
I inherited from the last Presidency a proposal from the Commission to provide 700 MECU additional funding for the EU's current Fourth Framework Programme, as part of a review process agreed by research Ministers in 1994. This was rendered redundant by the ECOFIN council's decision not to breach the Community's financial perspectives. Nevertheless the Irish Presidency has managed to salvage some of the proposal and what seemed like a non-starter back in July has regained centre stage. I am confident that the Irish Presidency will secure agreement at council this week which will deliver additional funding for research under the fourth framework programme of up to 100 MECUs for the period 1997/98. This will provide funding for TSE to which I have referred and for other worthwhile projects. In this context, I have submitted a Presidency initiative which I believe will allow agreement to be reached on Thursday.
The launch of discussions on the European Union's Fifth Framework Programme of Research and Technological Development and Demonstration covering 1998/2002 during the Irish Presidency was a major achievement. The Fourth Framework Programme embraces all Community research and technology development programmes with funding of 13.1 BECU. We are now engaged in a major debate to decide the guidelines which will serve as the basis for a detailed Commission proposal for the fifth framework programme due next Spring.
Early in our term, and with the encouragement of the Presidency, the EU Commission published its strategy paper for the fifth framework programme, "Inventing Tomorrow: Europe's Research at the service of its people". An orientation debate took place at the October council and following further encourgement from the Presidency, the EU Commission has just published a Working Document on the fifth framework programme. I have presented a Presidency paper to focus matters and this will move the debate forward next Thursday.
I am happy to say that my continued efforts to have the EU Action Plan on Innovation completed during the Irish Presidency have paid dividends. This follows the Green Paper on Innovation which was published earlier this year. The plan has now been cleared by the EU Commission and will be presented to the December research council and the following week to the European Summit in Dublin. The plan is a comprehensive response to the need to put innovation in all its diversity and complexity at the heart of industrial and economic policy and mirrors in many ways the approach in our own White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation which I recently published.
Apart from the foregoing items, I have also taken two Presidency initiatives to coincide with national Presidency objectives — drugs and SMEs. The drugs issue is a major priority for this Government and my Presidency initiative on drugs in the research area complements this wider process. The initiative relates to the contribution which the European scientific community can make to the fight against drug abuse and detection.
On 12 November, a very successful high level workshop onResearch on the Medical Socio Economic and Detection Issues of Drug Abuse was held in Brussels as part of the Irish Presidency initiative. All 15 member states made valuable inputs to the recommendations in the report of the workshop. These recommendations have been reflected in the council conclusions which, I am confident, will be agreed by research Ministers this week and will in turn feed into the Dublin Summit on 13-14 December.
On SMEs, Thursday's council is set to approve a set of Presidency-initiated conclusions which aim at making it easier for SMEs to participate in framework programme activities. This is an important achievement which recognises the significant contribution that SMEs can make to economic growth, and the fact that technology is vital if SMEs are to make that contribution.
Turning briefly to other matters the council will adopt Conclusions on the progress by the JRC, Joint Research Centre, implementing the 1994 council decision on the fourth framework programme which required the JRC to adopt a more market orientated approach. These conclusions will require the JRC to submit its future strategy plans during 1997.
Ireland will chair an important meeting later in December dealing with S & T co-operation between EU member states and third countries in the Mediterranean region. This euro med monitoring committee meeting will establish terms of reference for future co-operation, a research work programme and so on. The meeting is a breakthrough in that it puts these arrangements on a permanent footing. Up to now we have had to rely largely on the goodwill of the last three Presidencies — Spain, France, Italy, coincidentally, all Mediterranean countries.
Finally, negotiations on a bilateral S & T co-operation agreement between the EU and South Africa have been successfully concluded and I, as President-in-Office on behalf of the council, will jointly sign the agreementen marge of Thursday's council, together with Commissioner Edith Cresson and the South African Ambassador to the European Union.
In conclusion, and as will be self-evident, I believe that our Presidency will be seen as an unqualified success — producing key strategy Papers and moving the debate on; breaking deadlock in others and achieving real progress; promoting essential research themes such as BSE and getting full support for key measures on drugs and SMEs.
The foundations for this success were laid last year through a process of meticulous and detailed planning and negotiations undertaken by my officials, and the excellent relations and undertaking they developed with key officials in the Commission, the Council Secretariat, and the member states. I would like to pay a special tribute to all of them and to the general public service backup we got for our Presidency efforts. It is nice to be able from time to time to acknowledge the sterling work done by our public servants.
I also visited capitals of member states and had frequent and detailed discussions with Commissioner Cresson which provided the basis for the excellent working relationship as characterised by our dealings over the past six months and indeed beyond.
