Busquin welcomes Parliament's adoption of FP6 proposals
EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin has welcomed a Parliament vote approved the Council's common position, thereby giving the go-ahead to the Commission's proposals for the Sixth Framework programme for research and development, FP6. The programme, which will run from 1 January 2003 until 2006 with a budget of 17.5 billion euro, was approved together with some 34 compromise amendments agreed recently between the Parliament, Council and Commission. 'I welcome this key vote,' said Commissioner Busquin, adding that once the Council has endorsed the Parliament's vote, the scientific community will, for the first time, have more than six months in which to draft proposals before the programme comes into force. The amendments adopted by Parliament reflect the institution's desire that emphasis be placed on tackling serious diseases such as cancer, and diseases which affect children. The participation of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in FP6 is another priority for Parliament. MEPs also wish to ensure that Parliament's priorities are respected, and have therefore requested that the Commission provide a detailed annual report on the various programmes. The one remaining issue which was previously a source of disagreement between the Member States is ethics. Owing to divisions between the Member States, ethics was left out of the Council's common position. The Commission intends to address this issue by appending a declaration in which it undertakes not to finance any research involving genetic manipulation, human cloning or the creation of embryos for research purposes. The other components of FP6, the specific programmes and the rules for participation and dissemination still need to be agreed by Parliament and Council. The Parliament will debate reports on these issues towards the end of May, and are expected to vote in the June plenary session. Shortly after the Parliament has made its position clear, the Research Council will meet to discuss and possibly approve the proposals.