CORDIS Archive

For contact information, go directly to the Web Window on the new partner countries

1. Which are the candidates for membership of the European Union that are now associated with FP5?
2. Which other countries are, or will be, associated with FP5?
3. Where can I learn more about the candidate countries on the Internet?
4. What is meant by their association with FP5?
5. What is the main aim of this association?
6. Are the countries participating in all FP5 specific programmes?
7. How was the association decided?
8. When did the association enter into force?
9. What measures does the Commission take to promote the creation of new partnerships?
10. What is meant by reciprocity?
11. Are there any specific measures recently released to promote integration of the associated countries within FP5?

1. Which are the candidates for membership of the European Union that are now associated with FP5?

Besides Cyprus (which requested EU membership in 1990), the group comprises the following eleven countries of Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, all of which submitted their requests for EU membership in the period 1994-1996), and, since the 1 of March 2001, Malta.

2. Which other countries are, or will be, associated with FP5?

These are Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Israel (whose association is already in force).

3. Where can I learn more about the candidate countries on the Internet?

The Web Window on the new partner countries gives links to general country and S&T; information (country homepage, S&T; overview pages, homepages of major S&T; organisations), and contact information for the National Contact Point (NCP) system co-ordinator and the FEMIRC (Fellow Member to Innovation Relay Centre network).

4. What is meant by their association with FP5?

Under the association with FP5, candidate countries contribute to the budget of the programme; in return, their research institutes, universities and industry (including SMEs) can participate in the projects of the programme under basically the same conditions as organisations from the Member States. This implies in the first place: access to Community project financing. The participants from these countries can be included in the proposal-making consortium together with the participants from the EU from the beginning. At the minimum, 1 EU participant and 1 participant from an associated country can make up such a consortium. Participants from associated countries may also be project coordinators.

5. What is the main aim of this association?

It is considered as a way of speeding up their integration into the scientific and technological community at European level and their preparation for membership. The possibility of association was envisaged in the conclusions of the Luxembourg European Council of 12/13 December 1997 (see para. 19/20) as one of the instruments of the pre-accession strategy.

6. Are the countries participating in all FP5 specific programmes?

Each of the 12 countries is fully associated with the EC FP5 (non-nuclear research). The following countries are also associated with the Euratom FP5 (nuclear research): Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The others (Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland) can participate in the nuclear programme on a project-by-project basis.

7. How was the association decided?

As usual, the Commission first obtained a negotiation mandate from the Council. The legal instrument took the form of an additional protocol to the existing Association Agreement for Cyprus and Malta, and a Association Council Decision for each of the candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The Community procedures for each of these instruments were completed by the Research Council meeting on 20 May 1999. That same day, the association with Cyprus entered into force. The other countries were, in parallel, completing their own procedure, which in some cases involved their Parliaments.

8. When did the association enter into force?

The association is in force for all candidate countries mentioned under question 1.

9. What measures does the Commission take to promote the creation of new partnerships?

Information about the science sector of the countries and about cooperation opportunities is being collected into a Web Window on the new partner countries. There is some support available for the system of National Contact Points being built up in the countries (in analogy with the Member States' systems). Accompanying measures under the INCO-2 programme (International Cooperation specific programme of FP5) promotes information dissemination, awareness and training actions. The countries were given the opportunity to present themselves to the science community already involved in the framework programmes at the launching conference of FP5, held in Essen (Germany) on 25-26 February 1999 (see Conference website). For potential proposers seeking partners from these countries, lists of organisations that already have experience of EU RTD programmes are available on CORDIS.

10. What is meant by reciprocity?

In parallel to the countries becoming associated with FP5, they are also negotiating the opening up of their own national RTD programmes to EU participation. This opening up, known as reciprocity, is on a project-by-project basis without funding from the country's national budget, and the EU participant(s) will be additional to the minimum number of own-country participants (at least one) for the given national programme. A list of programmes to be opened up in this way is being compiled and will be published on CORDIS as soon as available. In this way, an additional cooperation opportunity will be created.