Activites

• 2008/07/30 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Decision 2008/743
  • OJ L 201 30.07.2008, p. 0058
• 2008/07/09 Final act signed
• 2008/07/09 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2881
• 2008/06/23 Council Meeting
• 2008/06/23 Act adopted by Council after Parliament's 1st reading
• #2871
• 2008/05/29 Council Meeting
  • 2871
• 2008/04/10 Results of vote in Parliament
  • Results of vote in Parliament
  • T6-0116/2008 summary

    The European Parliament adopted, by 626 to 14 with 6 abstentions, a legislative resolution, amending the proposal for a decision on the participation by the Community in a research and development programme aimed at supporting research and development performing SMEs undertaken by several Member States (Eurostars Joint Programme). The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Paul RÜBIG (EPP-ED, AT) on behalf of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.The amendments - adopted under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure – were the result of a compromise between Parliament and Council: -new recitals state that financial support to participants in the Eurostars Joint Programme projects, selected at central level following calls for proposals, should be transparent and efficient. These payments should be effected within the period established on the basis of an agreement to be concluded between the national funding bodies and the dedicated implementation structure. The latter should invite the Member States to facilitate the payments to participants in selected projects, including, where appropriate, lump sum financing. On the matter of financing, Parliament added that further financing options may be available, inter alia, from the European Investment Bank (EIB), in particular through the Risk-Sharing Finance Facility developed jointly with the EIB and the Commission pursuant to Annex III to Decision 2006/974/EC;-monitoring the execution of the Eurostars Joint Programme should be efficient and not impose unnecessary burdens on participants, including notably SMEs, in the programme;-the dedicated implementation structure should encourage the participants in the selected projects to communicate and disseminate their results and to make this information publicly available; -the evaluation of proposals should be performed at central level by independent experts. A ranking list should be approved at central level and binding for the allocation of funding from the Community contribution and from the national earmarked budgets to Eurostars projects;-detailed thresholds of R&D activity in the SMEs shall be clarified in accordance with Annex II;- research organisations, universities, other SMEs or large companies may also participate in the Programme;-for each project, the R&D performing SME(s) should collectively execute a large part of the overall R&D activities within the project; -the dedicated implementation structure shall take appropriate measures to encourage recognition of the Community contribution to the Eurostars Joint Programme, both to the overall programme and to individual projects as well. It should promote appropriate visibility for such contribution through the use of the Community logo in all published material, including printed and electronic publication, relating to the Eurostars Joint Programme;-a maximum of 4.5% of the Community financial contribution shall be used by the dedicated implementation structure to contribute to the overall operational costs of the Eurostars Joint Programme;-the national funding bodies shall finance the national participants whose proposals are selected at central level and shall also channel the Community financial contribution from the dedicated implementation structure;-the "Eurostars High Level Group" is composed of the EUREKA High Level Representatives of the States participating in the Eurostars joint programme. The Commission as well as EU Member States not participating in the Programme retain the option to send representatives to its meetings as observers;-the interim evaluation of the Eurostars Joint Programme to be carried out two years after the start of the Programme and must also include recommendations on the most appropriate ways to further enhance scientific management and financial integration, assess the ability of R&D performing SMEs in particular to access the Eurostars Joint Programme, and the quality and efficiency of its implementation.

• 2008/04/09 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2008/03/04 Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading
  • A6-0064/2008
• 2008/02/28 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
• #2852
• 2008/02/25 Council Meeting
  • 2852
• #2832
• 2007/11/22 Council Meeting
  • 2832
• 2007/09/27 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2007/09/12 Legislative proposal published
  • COM(2007)0514 summary

    PURPOSE: to offer Community financing of  the EUREKA “Eurostars Joint Programme” for SMEsPROPOSED ACT: Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council.BACKGROUND: the importance of SMEs to European growth and competitiveness is well recognised and promoted in the EU. The Council has encouraged the Commission to explore the possible development of a bottom-up scheme for research performing SMEs and co-ordination with funding schemes such as EUREKA. In its Resolution on Science and Technology, the European Parliament too stated that a more efficient use should be made of other funding mechanisms to support R&D and Innovation in the EU for SMEs.R&D performing SME’s are knowledge-intensive, technology based companies that play a key role in the innovation process. Based on their own R&D capacity, they are able to develop products, processes or services that have a clear innovative or technological advantage. For its part, EUREKA is an inter-governmental initiative established in 1985 that seeks to support market-oriented transnational R&D and innovation projects across all sectors and consists of 38 members including the European Community. It is divided into participating Member States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden and other participating Member States: Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey. At the EUREKA Ministerial Conference in June 2004 the European Commission was asked to explore the possibility of setting up concrete financing mechanisms that reinforce co-operation between EUREKA and the Framework Programme with a particular emphasis on SME’s. This initiative gave rise to the “Eurostars Joint Programme” based on Article 171 and 169 of the Treaty.CONTENT: the purpose of this proposal, therefore, is to offer Community financial assistance to EUREKA’s Eurostars Joint Programme, totalling EUR 100 million.Although SME’s have access to a number of programmes under the Framework Programme, currently no specific scheme exists that addresses the R&D needs of performing SME’s. Under existing possibilities SME’s can participate either through the “Co-operation” programme of the 7th FP or through the action “Research for the benefit of SME’s. EUREKA, on the hand, supports market-oriented transnational research projects without any thematic restrictions. Once awarded a EUREKA label, project partners have to look to their own national programme for funding as there is no central funding mechanism. The “Eurostars Joint Programme” on the other hand, complements both the activities of the 7th FP and EUREKA, by offering a bottom-up programme, which is specifically tailored towards R&D performing SME’s. Further the Programme places SME’s in the driving sear, favours small consortia, encourages market-oriented research, results in the synchronisation and harmonisation of national procedures, and finally, offers a secured funding mechanism to project participants.In summary, therefore, the main thrust of the Eurostars initiative is to create a joint research and development programme by providing the necessary legal and organisational framework for large-scale European co-operation between Member States on applied research and innovation in the area of R&D performing SME’s. All EUREKA members have agreed to co-ordinate and jointly implement activities aimed at contributing to the Eurostars Joint Programme. The overall value of their participation is estimated at a minimum of EUR 300 million over the six-year period covered by the programme.Community funding for this initiative would stem from the Capacity programme of the 7thFP. The Agreement once concluded between the Commission and the dedicated implementation structure will ensure that the financial interests of the Community are protected.

  • DG {'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/research/home.cfm', 'title': 'Research and Innovation'}, POTOČNIK Janez

Documents

• Legislative proposal published: COM(2007)0514
• Debate in Council: 2832
• Debate in Council: 2852
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A6-0064/2008
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T6-0116/2008
• Debate in Council: 2871
• : Decision 2008/743
• : OJ L 201 30.07.2008, p. 0058

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)