The Joint Response of Enlargement Countries addresses the issues in the Green Paper “From Challenges to Opportunities: Towards a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding” published by the European Commission on 9 February 2011. The Green Paper manifests the very initial orientations of the public programming for research and innovation in Europe after 2013. With the Green Paper, the European Commission has launched a process of consultation to receive opinions from a wide array of stakeholders ranging from research and business communities to government and civil society organizations for the structuring of the future research and innovation landscape in Europe. This Joint Response document is aimed to outline the common response of Enlargement Countries to the mentioned Green Paper.

Following the initial joint position of the Enlargement Countries on the future RTD Programme of Europe, published in February, 2011, consultation among the countries was sustained also after the publication of the EC Green Paper on a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding.

A Regional Dialogue meeting in the context of WBC-INCO.NET project, held in Ohrid, FYR Macedonia on 3 May 2011, has allowed the involved ministries and research councils to come together and construct a joint response of the Enlargement Countries to the EC Green Paper. This joint response is manifested in this paper and submitted to the European Commission consultation on the future of research and innovation funding in Europe. This joint response focuses on the measures proposed in the EC Green Paper for strengthening research and innovation in Europe in the next programming period with a view to responding to the concerns and questions embedded in the Green Paper.

In this context, the Enlargement Countries expect that the potential and added value of the enlargement process would not be underestimated in the design of the future research and innovation funding in Europe.