7th Research Framework Programme (Extract from: Provisional Version, Competitiveness council of 11 October)

Brussels, 11 Oct 2005

On the basis of a Presidency note, the Council held an orientation debate on the sections dealing with "Ideas" and "Capacities" of the Commission proposal for the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) for research and technological development (2007-2013). The other two parts of the proposal, "Cooperation" (collaborative research) and "People" (human resources), were examined in-depth by the Council last June.

In the light of the discussions and taking also into account the work under the Luxembourg Presidency, the Presidency intends to draw up a revised draft text covering the whole Framework Programme proposal as a basis for future work with a view to allowing the Council to reach a partial general approach1 at its session on 28/29 November.

The new FP7 is aimed at helping to implement one the EU's priority goals of increasing the potential for economic growth and of strengthening European competitiveness by investing in knowledge, innovation and human capital. The Commission envisage that the bulk of the funds would continue to go to collaborative, applied research as under FP6 but several new elements have been added. The main new actions proposed by the Commission are funding for basic research through a European Research Council run by eminent scientists; support for large-scale publicprivate partnerships to take forward industrial projects; and funding for new research infrastructures.

It is recalled that the FP7 proposals are to be considered in parallel with the proposal concerning the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (doc. 8081/05) and that detailed modalities for the implementation of the FP7 are set out in the Specific Programmes adopted by the Commission on 21 September 2005. Both the Framework Programme and the Specific Programmes have to be adopted within the Council by qualified majority, as set out in Article 166 of the EC Treaty.

1 A partial general approach is a way of fixing Council discussions on non-budgetary elements which are linked to the pending negotiation on the financial perspective for the period 2007-2013. It leaves open the possibility of adjusting agreed parts of a proposal should that be necessary following agreement on budgetary amounts.

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