Research Council: Brussels, 25 March 1996
The Council of Research Ministers of the European Union met in Brussels, on 25 March 1996. The main subject on the agenda was the Commission's proposal to increase the budget of the Fourth Framework Programme for Community research and development by ECU 700 million. This budget increase was planned for at the time of the approval of the Programme in 1994. Whilst the Ministers generally approved the Commission's proposal to concentrate support on research efforts in a limited number of priority areas (aeronautics, multimedia educational software, the car of tomorrow, transport intermodality, and clean technologies for the environment, particularly water and the safety of nuclear installations), they were unwilling to finalize their positions on the financial question. A decision on the financial aspect of the proposal will depend on the reaction of the Council of Economic and Finance Ministers to the Commission's proposal for a redistribution of the Community's resources within the Community's financial perspective 1993-1999. This adjustment of the financial perspective would free extra resources for trans-European networks, European research and actions to support SMEs without requiring any additional financing for the Community budget (see RCN 5784). The Council welcomed the Green Paper on Innovation, presented by the Commission in December 1995, and intends to hold a fuller discussion on this subject at its June session. With regard to RTD cooperation with third countries, the Council adopted a resolution approving the Commission's Communication of October 1995 on the perspectives of international cooperation in research and technological development. This text called for industrial cooperation to be extended to instruments outside the Fourth Framework Programme, such as PHARE, TACIS, and MEDA (the Community's aid programmes for, respectively, Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and third countries in the Mediterranean region) and placed particular emphasis on cooperation with these regions. The Council also met with Ministers from Central and Eastern European countries and resolved to increase links at all levels. More specifically, the Council requested the Commission to examine ways to increase the involvement of these countries in the Fourth Framework Programme, in particular through the PHARE programme. An exchange of views took place on increased scientific and technological cooperation with countries in the Mediterranean region, the subject of a Commission Communication due to be presented in June 1996.