The signing of the MoUs is the last step in a long procedure which began with the request to become associated, then the discussion of the terms and conditions of the association to FP7, and finally the internal adoption procedure at the level of the European Commission and in the respective Association Countries.
The Memorandum of Understanding enters into force as soon as it is signed and is retroactive to January 1, 2007. This means that research entities from Croatia, FYR of Macedonia and Serbia are eligible for participation and funding as Associated Country for all calls since January 1, 2007.

The signing ceremony will take place at the same time with all three Western Balkan countries. The Croatian Minister for Science, Education and Sports, Dragan Primorac, the FYR of Macedonia Minister of Education and Science, Sulejman Rushiti and the newly appointed Serbian Minister for Science, Dr. Ana Pesikan will be present in Brussels. We will certainly update you about this important event in our next Newsletter.

The Memorandum of Association with Turkey will be signed on June 1. This means that Turkey will also have associated status from January 1, 2007 under FP7, as it had under FP6,.

The next Association Agreement will be with Montenegro as soon as Protocol 8 to the Stabilisation and Association Agreement is adopted (provisionally July 2007), after which the internal decision-making for association to FP7 can be launched.

The Association Agreements with Israel and Switzerland are also moving ahead with signing planned for July 2007. Application for participation and funding is also retroactive to January 1, 2007.