SP(2007)0054

PURPOSE: to adopt the Specific Programme “People” under the 7 th Framework Programme.

LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision 2006/0973/EC concerning the specific programme “People” implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 – 2013).

CONTENT: the adoption of the Specific Programme “People” stems from Council Decision 1982/2006/EC concerning the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013). See: COD/2005/0043 . The new 7 th Framework Programme is centred on four research pillars: Co-operation; Ideas; People; and Capacity.

The overall strategic aim of this programme is to create a genuine European research labour market by making Europe more attractive to researchers. Funding stemming from the “People” programme, therefore, will focus on encouraging people to enter research as a profession and to strengthen both quantitatively and qualitatively the human potential in European RT&D, and for women in particular. Not only will the policies of this programme seek to retain talented European researchers in Europe it will attempt to make Europe one of the most attractive destinations for overseas researchers, by consolidating its training capacity and offering financial incentives. The Programme has been awarded a EUR 4 750 million budget to help realise these objectives.

The route to implement these ambitions will be the Marie Curie Actions, which will take account of the “European added value” in terms of their structuring and effect on the European Research Area. The Marie Curie Actions will be open to all domains of research and the research field will be chosen freely by the applicants. A further feature of the People programme is gender mainstreaming and gender benchmarking – a target of 40% female participation has been set.

The Marie Curie Actions have been sub-divided into five headings:

Initial training: Under this heading, focus is given to the first four years of a researchers’ career, plus one additional year if deemed necessary for the completion of the initial training. In cases where all of the requirements have been met, the Community will offer support by recruiting early-stage researchers, setting up academic chairs, organising short training events such as summer schools and organising specialised training courses.

Life-long training and career development: The focus of this heading, on the other hand, will be to target experienced researchers who are seeking to enhance their career prospects. Outstanding researchers will be offered a leading and independent position either as a principal investigator, professor or else a senior position in the private sector.

Industry/academia partnership: The industry/academia partnership route, will seek to foster synergies between public research organisations, on the one hand, and private commercial enterprises on the other. Particular attention will be given to the integration of SME’s. Community support will focus on staff secondments, temporary hosting of experienced researchers, the organisation of workshops and conferences and, where necessary, offering SME’s equipment needed for their participation in the scheme.

International Dimension: Action will focus on the career development of researchers from Member States and associated countries by supporting outgoing international fellowships, with a mandatory return policy, return and international re-integration grants for experienced researchers, offering fellowships to international researchers and seeking partnerships between European research organisations and one or more organisation in countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy or with which the EU has a Science and Technology Agreement.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 2 January 2007.

Decision 2006/973
OJ L 400 30.12.2006, p. 0269

Results of vote in Parliament

The European Parliament adopted a resolution drafted by Umberto PIRILLI (UEN, I) concerning the specific programme "People" implementing the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013) of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities. Parliament adopted the following amendments:

- the recitals now state that the programme aims to increase the human research and development potential in Europe in terms of both quality and quantity, partly by recognising the "profession" of researcher. This would favour the maintenance of excellence in basic research and the organic development of technological research, and would encourage the mobility of European researchers from and throughout Europe;

- the Specific Programme shall support the activities for "People", encouraging people to take up a career as a researcher and strengthening, quantitatively and qualitatively, the human, and especially female, potential in research and technology in Europe, while ensuring equal access for men and women and paying special attention to the needs of disabled researchers

- the overall administrative expenditure of the Specific Programme, including internal and management expenditure for the executive agency which it is proposed to set up, should be proportional to the activities undertaken under the Specific Programme and is subject to the decision of the budgetary and legislative authorities. Budget appropriations shall be used in accordance with the principle of sound financial management, namely in accordance with the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as the principle of proportionality;

- all research activities carried out under the Specific Programme shall be in compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;

- the following fields of research will not be financed under the programme: research activity aimed at cloning of human embryos; research activity intended to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable; research activity intended to create human embryos solely for research purposes or for the purpose of stem cell procurement and research activity using cells from such embryos;

- as with all the specific programmes, a new Article 5a states that the Commission shall provide prior information to the budgetary authority whenever it intends to depart from the breakdown of expenditure stated in the remarks in and annex to the general budget of the European Union;

- proposals for indirect actions shall be evaluated and projects selected with account being taken of the following principles: scientific and/or technological excellence; how the project relates to the objectives of the Specific Programme; the calibre and implementing capacity of the proposers (researchers/organisations) and their potential for further progression; implementation of the principle of equal treatment and equal opportunities for women and men; the quality of the proposed activity in terms of scientific training and/or knowledge transfer objectives. In this connection the work programme shall specify in greater detail the assessment and selection criteria and may add further requirements, weightings, and thresholds;

- in the context of the "Marie Curie Actions", particular attention must be paid to the protection and sharing of intellectual property, secured by means of suitable contract clauses that safeguard the individual researcher, when the research results in a patent for producing goods placed on the market.

- all actions in the specific programme, are open to the participation, without any form of discrimination, of individual researchers from third countries and of European researchers living abroad. To that end, efforts should be made to speed up the mutual recognition of professional qualifications acquired in third countries. The adoption of a policy providing incentives should not be centred only on the remuneration of researchers but also on their working conditions;

- to simplify calls for proposals and reduce costs, the Commission should set up a database as a prerequisite for notifying participants in calls for proposals;

- appropriate measures should also be taken to monitor first the effectiveness of funding provided and secondly the effectiveness of the use of such funds;

- the Commission shall submit the Decision and a report on the implementation of the Specific Programme to the competent bodies for review in sufficient time to ensure that the procedure for modifying this Decision can be completed by the end of 2010.

Lastly, Parliament emphasised removing obstacles to professional mobility, especially those related to researchers’ social security and tax affairs, which often act as a disincentive to entering the research field, and also stressed the need to make it easier to reconcile work and family life, not least by enabling them to benefit from appropriate financial and salary terms as well as from social security arrangements.

T6-0518/2006

Debate in Parliament

A6-0360/2006

A6-0360/2006

PE374.071

2731

On 21 September 2005, the Commission presented a proposal for a Council Decision concerning the specific programme “People” implementing the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013) of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities programme.

The overall financial amount initially proposed by the Commission amounted to EUR 7 128,596 million .

The Commission subsequently adapted the budgetary aspects of these proposals following the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 on the Financial Framework 2007-2013.

The new overall amount is set at EUR 4 727 million, of which less than 6% shall be for the Commission’s administrative expenditure.

Please refer to the financial statement for more details.

COM(2005)0442/2
EUR-Lex

Package of legislative proposals following the Interinstitutional Agreement on

budgetary discipline and sound financial management

The conclusion on 17 May 2006 by the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament of the agreement on the 2007-2013 financial framework (Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline and sound financial management – please refer to procedure ACI/2004/2099 ) marks a real success for Europe, providing a stable financial framework for the political priorities of the enlarged Union for the next seven years. It is now up to the institutions and Member States to ensure that the financial resources available are used and implemented as well as possible. Action at European level must contribute true added value to that taken at national, regional or local level and must have an optimum impact on each European player. The Commission is ready to play a full role in all these areas.

The agreement marks a decisive step forward towards the ultimate objective of providing the Union with operational programmes by the beginning of 2007. Work must now be continued on each legislative act. To this end, the Commission intends to continue to provide momentum and act as a facilitator, as it has been doing since the start of the negotiations.

As part of the negotiations on the 2007-2013 financial framework, in October 2005 the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission adopted a joint declaration in which they undertook to continue work on the legislative proposals currently being discussed and then, once the interinstitutional agreement had been adopted and on the basis of amended proposals by the Commission, to reach agreement on each of these proposals. Thus, in accordance with Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty and in order to facilitate this phase for each legislative act, the Commission has adopted a total of 30 proposals, 26 of which are amended and 4 new.

The proposals amended as a result of the IIA are as follows:

Programmes concerning the external policy of the Union and development cooperation:

Ø COD/2004/0219 ( European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument )

Ø COD/2004/0220 ( development co-operation and economic co-operation instrument )

Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows Programme (JHA):

Ø COD/2005/0046 ( European Refugee Fund )

Ø COD/2005/0047 ( External borders fund, 2007-2013 )

Ø COD/2005/0049 ( European Return Fund )

Fundamental Rights and Justice Programme (JHA):

Ø COD/2005/0037/A (DAPHNE )

Ø COD/2005/0037/B ( drugs prevention and information )

RDT Framework Programme and specific programmes :

Ø COD/2005/0043 ( RDT Framework Programme )

Ø CNS/2005/0044 (Nuclear Research Programme )

Ø CNS/2005/0184 ( Joint Research Centre - JRC )

Ø CNS/2005/0185 ( Transnational cooperation specific programme )

Ø CNS/2005/0186 ( Specific programme Ideas, frontier research )

Ø CNS/2005/0187 (S pecific programme supporting researchers )

Ø CNS/2005/0188 (RDT Capacities specific programme )

Ø CNS/2005/0189 ( specific programme direct actions by the Joint Research Centre JRC )

Ø CNS/2005/0190 ( fusion energy, nuclear fission and radiation protection specific programme)

Employment and social cohesion Programme: COD/2004/0158

Programmes in the fields of youth and education:

Ø COD/2004/0152 ( Youth )

Ø COD/2004/0153 ( Education – lifelong learning )

Consumer Protection and Public Health Framework programme:

Ø COD/2005/0042/A ( Public health )

Ø COD/2005/0042/B ( Consumers )

Programme in the fields of energy, environment and transport :

Ø COD/2004/0218 ( LIFE+)

Ø COD/2004/0154 ( TransEuropean networks in the areas of energy and transport )

Ø CNS/2004/0221 ( Decommissioning of the Bohunice nuclear plant )

GALILEO ( radio-navigation by satellite ): COD/2004/0156

In terms of new proposals , the Commission has already submitted three in the area of agriculture and rural development policy and fisheries and aquaculture policy:

Ø CNS/2006/0081 ( fisheries and aquaculture )

Ø CNS/2006/0082 ( rural development )

Ø CNS/2006/0083 ( common agricultural policy ).

Certain legislative acts do not form part of this package of measures, in particular those on which political agreement has been reached since 17 May. For these measures, the Commission has played a full part in helping to bring about agreement between the arms of the legislative authority. The same applies to the acts for which conclusion of the interinstitutional agreement does not modify the Commission’s original proposal. For all the others, which are included in the package presented, the changes proposed by the Commission take account of the content of the interinstitutional agreement adopted, either in a simplified form, where the financial resources allocated to each programme must be adapted, or in a more detailed form where the structure or even the content of the act must be revised. It should also be noted that four of the amended proposals contain amendments already voted on by the European Parliament at first reading and that one proposal has been divided into two amended proposals in response to a request by the Council and the European Parliament, although Parliament has not yet proceeded to a first reading of this proposal.

Based on these amended proposals, the Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to continue their discussions of these proposals and conclude them as soon as possible in order to ensure that all the legal instruments are available in time for the effective launch of the programmes in January 2007.

COM(2006)0239
EUR-Lex

PE374.087

PE370.167

PE368.076

PE367.926

PE371.820

PURPOSE: To establish a specific programme entitled “People” within the context of the EU’s 7 th research framework programme.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision

CONTENT: The European Commission is presenting five “specific programmes” in follow up to the approval of the 7 th Framework Programme in April 2005. The first relates directly to actions funded under the Joint Research Centre. The other four are entitled: Co-operation, Ideas, Peoples and Capacity. The one under discussion here is the People specific programme.

Background:

The restructuring of the RT&D framework programmes is a bid by the European Commission to help the EU achieve its goal of becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 and to help the EU realise its ambition of devoting 3% of GDP to RT&D by the same date. The specific programmes identified by the Commission have been designed to address major weaknesses in the level, quality and impact of European research. Their creation represents a further consolidation of the European Research Area by offering financial support to the free movement of ideas, knowledge and researchers. The re-structuring of the programmes includes a number of core innovations, including, for example, allowing researchers (under some actions) to identify topics for future funding. Other advances include the setting up of a Risk-Sharing Facility to improve access to EIB loans for large scale European actions and the establishment of a European Research Council under the Ideas initiative. The Commission is also looking to overhaul the management methods of the framework programme by introducing improved efficiency drives through the externalisation of administrative tasks to an executive agency, seeking a clearer presentation of evaluation criteria, guaranteeing transparent work programmes and streamlining procedures for approving projects.

Specific programme – People :

The overall strategic aim of this programme is to make Europe more attractive to researchers. Not only will the policies of this programme seek to retain talented European researchers in Europe it will attempt to make Europe one of the most attractive destination for overseas researchers, by consolidating its training capacity and offering financial incentives. By this it means enhancing European research training, encouraging an active career path for researcher, encouraging knowledge sharing amongst the private and public sector and encouraging the strong participation of women in research.

The route to implement these ambitions will be the Marie Curie Actions. These actions have been sub-divided into five areas, namely: Initial training, life-long training and career development, industry-academia partnerships, the international dimension and specific actions.

Under the heading, initial training , attention will be given to the first four years of a researchers’ career, plus one additional year if deemed necessary for the completion of the initial training. Selection will be based on a trans-national network, the primary aim of which is to identify and define scientific research components. The networks will be expected to give particular attention to inter-disciplinary and newly emerging disciplinary research potential. The proposed training should focus on individual projects, complemented by training modules, which examine other related skills – such as management and financing. The involvement of outside organisations, preferably private, is considered essential in this action. In cases where all of the requirements have been met, the Community will offer support by recruiting early-stage researchers, setting up academic chairs or equivalent positions in enterprises, organising short training events such as summer schools and specialised training courses.

The focus of life-long training and career development , on the other hand, will be to target experienced researchers who are seeking to enhance their career prospects. The purpose of this action will be to offer researchers a leading and independent position either as a principal investigator, professor or else a senior position in the private sector. In addition it will help assist researchers to resume their work after a career break. To be eligible for funding under this heading, a researcher would need to have at least four years experience of conducing full-time research combined with a senior profile. The action will offer individual, intra-European, fellowships, which will be awarded at a Community level. They will be awarded to the best European and associated countries researchers. Other modules will include co-funding of regional, national or international programmes focused on training and career development. The programme will be awarded through an open, merit-based selection procedure. The selection procedure will be based on international peer review. Typical applicants for the co-funding modality would be those involved in building human resources in their respective countries and would include, for example, official public bodies responsible for funding fellowship programmes (such as ministries, research academies etc) as well as large research organisation and international bodies running comparable schemes.

The industry/academia partnership route, will seek to foster synergies between public research organisations, on the one hand, and private commercial enterprises on the other. Particular attention will be given to the integration of SME’s under this heading. The Commission proposes implementing the action in a flexible way by offering co-operation programmes between the two sectors from at least two different Member States or associated States. Specifically speaking, Community support will focus on staff secondments, temporary hosting of experienced researchers, the organisation of workshops and conferences and, where necessary, offering SME’s equipment needed for their participation in the scheme.

The international dimension action will focus on the career development of researchers from Member States and associated countries by supporting outgoing international fellowships, with a mandatory return policy, return and international re-integration grants for experienced researchers, offering fellowships to international researchers and seeking partnerships between European research organisations and one or more organisation in countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy or with which the EU has a Science and Technology Agreement.

Lastly, the creation of a genuine European research labour market is the main objective of the specific actions . Particular attention will be given to raising the overall awareness of the Marie Curie awards within the research community

For further information concerning the financial implications of this measure, please refer to the financial statement.

COM(2005)0442
EUR-Lex

PURPOSE: To establish a specific programme entitled “People” within the context of the EU’s 7 th research framework programme.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision

CONTENT: The European Commission is presenting five “specific programmes” in follow up to the approval of the 7 th Framework Programme in April 2005. The first relates directly to actions funded under the Joint Research Centre. The other four are entitled: Co-operation, Ideas, Peoples and Capacity. The one under discussion here is the People specific programme.

Background:

The restructuring of the RT&D framework programmes is a bid by the European Commission to help the EU achieve its goal of becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 and to help the EU realise its ambition of devoting 3% of GDP to RT&D by the same date. The specific programmes identified by the Commission have been designed to address major weaknesses in the level, quality and impact of European research. Their creation represents a further consolidation of the European Research Area by offering financial support to the free movement of ideas, knowledge and researchers. The re-structuring of the programmes includes a number of core innovations, including, for example, allowing researchers (under some actions) to identify topics for future funding. Other advances include the setting up of a Risk-Sharing Facility to improve access to EIB loans for large scale European actions and the establishment of a European Research Council under the Ideas initiative. The Commission is also looking to overhaul the management methods of the framework programme by introducing improved efficiency drives through the externalisation of administrative tasks to an executive agency, seeking a clearer presentation of evaluation criteria, guaranteeing transparent work programmes and streamlining procedures for approving projects.

Specific programme – People :

The overall strategic aim of this programme is to make Europe more attractive to researchers. Not only will the policies of this programme seek to retain talented European researchers in Europe it will attempt to make Europe one of the most attractive destination for overseas researchers, by consolidating its training capacity and offering financial incentives. By this it means enhancing European research training, encouraging an active career path for researcher, encouraging knowledge sharing amongst the private and public sector and encouraging the strong participation of women in research.

The route to implement these ambitions will be the Marie Curie Actions. These actions have been sub-divided into five areas, namely: Initial training, life-long training and career development, industry-academia partnerships, the international dimension and specific actions.

Under the heading, initial training , attention will be given to the first four years of a researchers’ career, plus one additional year if deemed necessary for the completion of the initial training. Selection will be based on a trans-national network, the primary aim of which is to identify and define scientific research components. The networks will be expected to give particular attention to inter-disciplinary and newly emerging disciplinary research potential. The proposed training should focus on individual projects, complemented by training modules, which examine other related skills – such as management and financing. The involvement of outside organisations, preferably private, is considered essential in this action. In cases where all of the requirements have been met, the Community will offer support by recruiting early-stage researchers, setting up academic chairs or equivalent positions in enterprises, organising short training events such as summer schools and specialised training courses.

The focus of life-long training and career development , on the other hand, will be to target experienced researchers who are seeking to enhance their career prospects. The purpose of this action will be to offer researchers a leading and independent position either as a principal investigator, professor or else a senior position in the private sector. In addition it will help assist researchers to resume their work after a career break. To be eligible for funding under this heading, a researcher would need to have at least four years experience of conducing full-time research combined with a senior profile. The action will offer individual, intra-European, fellowships, which will be awarded at a Community level. They will be awarded to the best European and associated countries researchers. Other modules will include co-funding of regional, national or international programmes focused on training and career development. The programme will be awarded through an open, merit-based selection procedure. The selection procedure will be based on international peer review. Typical applicants for the co-funding modality would be those involved in building human resources in their respective countries and would include, for example, official public bodies responsible for funding fellowship programmes (such as ministries, research academies etc) as well as large research organisation and international bodies running comparable schemes.

The industry/academia partnership route, will seek to foster synergies between public research organisations, on the one hand, and private commercial enterprises on the other. Particular attention will be given to the integration of SME’s under this heading. The Commission proposes implementing the action in a flexible way by offering co-operation programmes between the two sectors from at least two different Member States or associated States. Specifically speaking, Community support will focus on staff secondments, temporary hosting of experienced researchers, the organisation of workshops and conferences and, where necessary, offering SME’s equipment needed for their participation in the scheme.

The international dimension action will focus on the career development of researchers from Member States and associated countries by supporting outgoing international fellowships, with a mandatory return policy, return and international re-integration grants for experienced researchers, offering fellowships to international researchers and seeking partnerships between European research organisations and one or more organisation in countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy or with which the EU has a Science and Technology Agreement.

Lastly, the creation of a genuine European research labour market is the main objective of the specific actions . Particular attention will be given to raising the overall awareness of the Marie Curie awards within the research community

For further information concerning the financial implications of this measure, please refer to the financial statement.

COM(2005)0442
EUR-Lex