Commission paves the way for an EU security research programme
Philippe Busquin, EU Commissioner for Research, presented a communication on 3 February, seeking approval for a Preparatory Action aimed at preparing the ground for an EU security research programme from 2007. Recent world events and societal changes have led to security becoming a leading global challenge, states the communication. Therefore, 'Europe needs to invest in a 'security culture' that harnesses the combined and relatively untapped strengths of the 'security' industry and the research community in order to effectively and innovatively address existing and future security challenges,' reads the Commission proposal. The proposed Preparatory Action will last for three years, and will be allocated a budget of around 64 million euro. It will aim at bridging the gap between civil research, which is supported by the EU's Framework Programmes, and defence research, which is not. It will also bring together all stakeholders in order to assess how to best serve the end user community. 'Today Europe is faced with considerable duplication and fragmentation in security structures and programmes,' said Mr Busquin. 'This hampers cost efficiency and leads to many other problems. The cross-fertilisation of ideas and results between civilian and military research represents exciting potential for an enlarged Europe. However, in order access such potential, Europe must invest in a culture which harnesses the combined strengths of industry and the research community.' Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen added that 'Europe's civil security drive is a logical extension of research work that is already under way on information and communication technologies [ICTs] and the interoperability of systems.' It is emphasised in the communication that the proposed activities are not intended to replace Member States' individual defence activities, but, in accordance with the subsidiarity principle, to support, reinforce and supplement them. Specifically, the Preparatory Action will consist of projects and supporting activities. The projects are intended to demonstrate that the EU has the potential to address its immediate security challenges through a security research programme, and will address the technical, contractual and implementation issues to be considered before the creation of a new programme. The projects are likely to focus on issues such as identifying the main threats to Europe, particularly land and sea borders, through appropriate levels of information gathering, interpretation, integration and dissemination; and analysing the security of current and future networked systems. Projects may also address crisis management, including evacuation, search and rescue operations, active agents control and remediation. The proposed supporting activities will centre around scenario building exercises for assessing threats; feasibility studies of a European security information system; a survey of good practice in screening measures for goods and persons; and developing procedures for pinpointing relevant new technologies and capacities based on the needs of various public services. Giving these activities more visibility is a high level 'group of personalities', chaired by Commissioners Busquin and Liikanen, and including CEOs from industry and research institutes, MEPs and other high level political figures from Europe. The group will elaborate a long term vision for security research and make proposals regarding the establishment of a security research programme. 'The Preparatory Action is a Commission contribution to the wider EU agenda to address Europe's challenges and threats,' concludes the communication. 'Experience and knowledge gained from this phase will help to ensure that the future research programme will be optimally designed by the relevant EU institutions, with appropriate financial resources, and that it will contribute to the technological excellence and capabilities [necessary] for the EU to promote peace, security and prosperity both within and beyond Europe.'