Integration

The Spanish Presidency of the EU has taken an important step by addressing the issue of mobility and professional career opportunities for European researchers, first in the Competitiveness Council and subsequently by taking the Council’s conclusions to the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) for the first time, to allow specific measures to be taken within its area of responsibility.

Next to improving the working conditions of researchers, the Spanish Presidency has addressed an important number of specific issues such as the scientific infrastructures included in the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and support for women in European science and technology. These issues have been included in the conclusions of different aspects of the European Research Area (ERA) approved by the last Competitiveness Council in May.

The Spanish Presidency has also brought about substantial improvements to the governance of the European Research Council (ERC) and the Scientific and Technical Research Committee (CREST). For the latter, these improvements now stronger reflect the Committee’s strategic role in building the European Research Area and hence, it has been renamed to “European Research Area Committee – ERAC”.

The Spanish Presidency has also promoted the adoption of conclusions from the Council aimed at providing political guidelines for the Committee and the Member States regarding the next European Research and Innovation Plan, which has been presented in September. The conclusions approved by the Council cover five broad areas: funding, markets, governance, regions and people, coinciding almost exactly with the areas covered by the State Innovation Strategy (E2I) currently being prepared by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Involvement

Through this key area, the Spanish Presidency of the EU aimed to emphasise the need for science and innovation to address major challenges, starting with the economic crisis. This was the main topic of the San Sebastián/Donostia Declaration entitled “Science for recovery and economic growth: here and now” and endorsed by all EU Member States.

Important steps have been taken towards reducing bureaucracy within European R&D programmes and promoting the adoption of a set of conclusions on this matter at the Council meeting in May – steps, which will be taken up by the next presidency.

Inclusion

The Spanish Presidency also aimed to ensure that a knowledge-based Europe works towards a science sector that is more committed and of higher profile. Following the “Science against poverty” conference in La Granja (Segovia) in April, the May Competitiveness Council put the focus on developing the social dimension of the ERA as a cross-cutting means of promoting scientific and technological excellence, also exploring a common space between development co-operation and R&D, while at the same time reducing poverty and combating social exclusion.

Besides these topics, an agreement on the adoption of the BONUS Programme has been reached and the Spanish Presidency could take important steps forward in the negotiations on the ITER project.

The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation also co-chaired the WBC Steering Platform on June 24 in Belgrade, where it also advocated for improving the governance of the same. The conclusions of this Steering Platform meeting can be found on pages 1 and 2 of this journal.