Greece concerned about slow progress towards ERA
Dimitris Deniozos, the Greek General Secretary for research and development has admitted to sharing the Commission's concerns on the slow progress towards the creation of a European Research Area (ERA). Speaking at a benchmarking conference in Athens on 17 January, Mr Deniozos recounted the progress that has been made towards ERA, but emphasised that there remains a lot to be done. 'We share the Commission's anxiety on the progress of ERA, bearing in mind that three years have already passed since the Lisbon targets were set and yet there is a lot to be done to meet them.' Mr Deniozos then went on to say, however, that ERA should not be regarded as a short term objective and instead requires 'numerous step by step adjustments and changes in the Member States.' Mr Deniozos proposed that a method for open coordination could be developed 'as a tool to maximise synergies between national and Community RTD [research and technological development] activities.' He suggested that such an idea would work as the Competitiveness Council has already agreed to develop mechanisms for networking national and joint research programmes on a voluntary basis around freely chosen objectives.
Countries
Greece