Council endorses increased research budget and discusses FP7 priorities

The EU’s Research Ministers welcome the 40% increase of the EU’s research budget and expects to agree soon upon the allocation of the some 50 billion euro between the different sub-programmes of the FP7.

In their first meeting after the recent deal with the Parliament on the EU’s financial perspective 2007-2013, which foresees a 40% increase in the EU’s research budget, the EU’s Science and Research Ministers focused on the distribution of funds between the FP’s four individual sub-programmes: Co-operation, Ideas, People and Capacities.  “Following today’s meeting, I am very confident we will get an agreement among the member states in June,” said the Austrian Federal Research Minister Elisabeth Gehrer, who chaired the discussions of the informal competitiveness council on 21 April 2006. 

Some member states have expressed their wish to see, for example, more funds allocated to supporting SMEs (part of Capacities programme), at the expense of the European Research Council (part of the Ideas programme). However, according to Gehrer, an agreement seems “within reach” at the next meeting of Research Minister on 29-30 May 2006.

The Commission proposes allocating 32 billion euro to the sub-programme entitled Co-operation, 7.5 billion to Ideas, 5 billion to People and 4.2 billion to Capacities.

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