European scientific and technological co-operation: towards a new institutional framework
Recommendation 1063
(1987)
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- AAssembly debate on 5 October 1987 (12th Sitting) (seeDoc. 5784, report of the Committee on Science and Technology). Text adopted by the Assembly on 5 October 1987 (12th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
2. Considering that, in the light of the entry into force of the Single European Act on 1 July 1987, it is henceforth open to any member state of the Council of Europe which is not a member of the European Communities to pursue its efforts towards these aims in liaison with component programmes of the multiannual ‘‘framework programme for research and technological development'' of the European Communities, or in relation to - should circumstances permit - initiatives designed to maintain the technological and industrial conditions necessary for security, following possible consultations and decisions within the framework of European Foreign Policy Co-operation ;
3. Bearing also in mind, firstly, Resolution (84) 21 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, setting forth the objectives of political dialogue ; secondly, the joint declaration of the ministerial meeting of the European Communities and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) on co-operation in research and industry (Luxembourg, June 1984) ; finally, the Eureka Charter (Hanover, November 1985) according to which projects are designed to extend or complete projects or programmes undertaken in other frameworks ;
4. Welcoming :
4.1 the launching, with a budget of approximately 6 thousand million ECU, of the multiannual framework programme for research and technological development (1987-91) of the European Communities - first major application of the Single European Act ;
4.2 the outcome of the ‘‘Eureka'' Ministers' Conference (Madrid, 14-15 September 1987), increasing from 107 to 165 the number of projects, which now amount to an overall value of 4 thousand million ECU and involve the participation of over 600 firms and research institutions from nineteen Council of Europe countries ;
4.3 the ‘‘Europeanisation'' of the French Hermès space plane project, an essential step towards the development of a European manned space system, together with the successful nineteenth launch of the Ariane space rocket on 16 September 1987 ;
4.4 the strengthening of relations between the Council of Europe, the Commission of the European Communities and the European Science Foundation, with a view to establishing a ‘‘scientific area'' common to all member states of the Council of Europe, in keeping with the political declaration and the resolutions of the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Research (Paris, September 1984) ;
5. Concerned that the autonomy of the scientific community and of institutions of higher education and research should be respected in the course of the establishment of common policies for science and technology, following the entry into force of the Single European Act ;
6. Believing that, subject to increased concertation of efforts through the setting up of possible policies or of appropriate consultation mechanisms, co-operation in science and technology should be pursued through the various existing European and international frameworks, including that of the Council of Europe for, on the one hand, inter-university co-operation (in particular training for research) and, on the other, pre-decisional assessment of scientific and technological choices from the standpoint of the protection of human rights and the quality of life ;
7. Desirous that questions concerning or arising from developments in scientific and technological relations between member states of the Council of Europe should be the subject of exchanges of views within the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, preceded possibly by informal exchanges with the participation of experts from the member states most directly concerned ;
8. Considering that the legal foundations and principles of co-operation would thus be established for the setting up of a ‘‘true European technological community'', as called for by the Council of Europe's 6th Parliamentary and Scientific Conference (Tokyo/ Tsukuba, June 1985) and advocated in its
Recommendation 1029 (1986), as also for the establishment of a ‘‘European scientific area'' in keeping with its
Resolution 832 (1984),
9. Recommends that the Committee of Ministers :
a in seeing that the resolutions of the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Research (Paris, September 1984) are put into effect,
9.1.1 carry out its programme of inter-university co-operation (in particular in regard to training for research) in close liaison with the appropriate programmes of the European Communities - for example those for the stimulation of scientific and technical exchanges (STIMULATION), for university/business co-operation in training for the new technologies (COMETT), for the development of European learning through technological advance (DELTA), and for the mobility of university students (ERASMUS) ;
9.1.2 request that the possibility be studied by each member state of providing incentives, through the appropriate bodies, for the European Science Foundation to sustain its role of launching and assessing networks of scientific co-operation ;
b take measures, in line with paragraph 7 above and in application of its Resolution (84) 21, to enable the governments concerned to hold occasional exchanges of views on the probable evolution of their international scientific and technological commitments in response to new developments and new proposals, whether these be at European level, or in other international frameworks, or in or from other countries ;
c invite the governments of member states to adopt or confirm as explicit objectives of their scientific and technological policies the opening up of their research and technological development and training systems to suitably qualified students, scientists and engineers from all other member states of the Council of Europe, whether these states are members or not of the European Communities, with a view to the exploitation of all available skills and resources throughout the Europe of the Twenty-one, in pursuance of the objectives set by the Single European Act for the ‘‘framework programme'' of the European Communities and of those set for Eureka.
