Ireland’s presidency commences:

The Irish Presidency Programme identifies four broad priority objectives.  These are:

·         A successful enlargement of the EU to include 10 new Member States;

·         Working Together for Economic Growth, with emphasis on pursuing the Lisbon Strategy to make Europe the most competitive economy in the world;

·         A Safer Union, by developing the Union as an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice;

·         Global Engagement with the Outside World.  The EU will work towards the promotion of a fairer, peaceful and more secure world. 

The Irish government has set out an ambitious programme of activity which includes seeking to resolve major differences between Member States regarding the Intergovernmental conference (IGC).  On 4^th October 2003, the IGC began to revise the draft Constitutional Treaty which had been adopted by the European Convention on 10^th July.  During the IGC session held in December 2003, the Heads of State and Government of the EU Member States and Accession States failed to agree on qualified majority voting.  Responsibility for concluding negotiations on the EU Constitution have therefore been passed to the Irish Presidency.  It should be noted that the Presidency activity will inevitably be affected by the European elections to take place on 10^th-13^th June 2004,  following enlargement of the EU to include a further 10 Member States scheduled for 1^st May 2004.

In matters relating to engineering professionals, the Irish Presidency has announced that raising research investment, furthering excellence in basic research and developing an effective European space policy will be among its priorities during its six month Presidency of the EU.  It will prioritise the initiative to advance creation of a European Research and Innovation Area and achievement of 3% of GDP target for research and investment development  investment by 2010.

The mid-term review of the e-Europe Action Plan will be carried out during the Irish presidency.  It will reflect the opportunities of enlargement and highlight the benefits of broadband across the EU.  With the support of the Irish Presidency, the Hungarian Government will host a European ministerial meeting on the information society in Budapest.  A follow-up assessment of the status of electronic communications will take place before the Spring European Council.

In the Transport Sector, the Irish Presidency will focus on measures to stimulate growth in an enlarged EU. It will work with the European Parliament towards adoption of the revised Trans-European Networks proposals, recently agreed within the Council of Ministers.  It will continue work on liberalising key sectors such as rail.  Where it is considered feasible, action will be taken to ‘provide incentives’ for a modal shift away from roads, in particular through measures to provide for the internalization of the external costs of road transport.

 Regarding energy, the Presidency will focus on completion and consolidation of the internal market – particularly regarding cross-border gas trade.  Measures to increase energy efficiency and conservation will reflect continued integration of sustainable development in EU energy policies.  In June the International Conference for Renewable Energies will be held in Bonn, Germany.

In the field of education and training, the Council of Ministers will also prepare its interim implementation report for the Spring European Council: this will set out future directions on how best to pursue the key educational, skills and training aspects of the Lisbon programme.  Progress will be made on future European education, training and youth programmes.  The Presidency will focus on the “Europass” initiative for transparency of qualifications and competencies in recognition of the importance of improved mutual recognition of qualifications for mobility.  (Agreement on recognition of professional qualifications falls into Presidency work for the Single market).  The Presidency is also seeking to advance work on the forthcoming Framework Directive on Services as a key measure required to complete the Internal Market.

Environmental strategy will include emphasis on growth and social progress decoupled from environmental damage.  The Presidency plans to advance the Environmental Technologies Action Plan.  High on the agenda will be climate policy and legislation to support implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.  The Irish Presidency also intends to maintain the EU’s leadership in promoting sustainable development at International level.  The Irish government intends to continue the work begun under the Italian presidency on a regulation on chemicals.

Irish Presidency: http://www.eu2004.ie

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

° EU Research Commissioner Busquin seeks doubling of EU research budget – Interviewed in a French newspaper, Commissioner Busquin has confirmed he intends to call on EU Member States to double the Community budget for research in an enlarged Union to Euro 10 billion.  Precise figures can not be discussed until Member States agree the global EU budget for 2007-2013 – whilst some hope for national contributions to rise to 1.24% of GDP, six Member States have made it clear they wish contributions to remain at the current 1% level.

° Assessment of impact of Eureka projects: According to data provided by over 400 market impact reports, Eureka projects provide an average increase in annual turnover of around Euro one million per responding participant, with a further Euro 3 million expected within three years of project completion – the increase often far outweighs public funding received.  The report also states that the industry-driven nature of EUREKA projects and the requirement for financial commitment from participants, put it in a unique position to contribute effectively to the EU’s research investment goal of 3% of GDP.  Further information: http://www.eureka.be/ifs/files/public/Eureka/Publications/Reports/AIR/IR0203.pdf

° Over 4,000 French researchers threaten resignation over budgetary situation:  Following budget cuts in 2003 and freezing of certain projects, an announcement on 6^th January by French President Jacques Chirac that a ‘national plan’ for research would be presented shortly failed to convince researchers who claim that France is cutting research expenditure.  The President has said that a new strategy will be adopted by end of 2004 to enable France to strengthen its research capacity.  Further information: http://recherche-en-danger.apinc.org

° Meanwhile, in Germany research institutions offered more money in return for reform: In line with  new strategy, German Minister for Education and Research, Ms. Edelgard Bulmahn announced a new competition aimed at pinpointing Germany's top five universities. The competition aims to be a catalyst to increase excellence within institutions, using the reward of up to Euro 50 million per year as motivation for change.

° Outcome of December 2003 EuroNanoForum debate on nanosciences and nanotechnologies: The 4-day event Commission event in Italy brought forward certain key ideas including - funding for projects with application potential, wider role for research institutes to take ideas from basic research to production set-up, venture-capital aid to entrepreneurs to reduce risk, educating technologists in finance and marking and public funding to increase international-level networking.  Global investment in this nanotechnology has grown from Euro 1 billion to Euro 5 billion (Euro 3 billion being from public authorities) in 3 years.  It is acknowledged that no single state or industry can afford the powerful research infrastructures required.  The Commission is preparing a draft action plan to be put on the internet for further comment.  Details on: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/research/index_en.html

° Commission publishes Communication - Europe and Basic Research: The Commission document reflects the current debate on issues involved in basic research and the best way of dealing with them at a European level: Full Text

° CORDIS launches comprehensive FP6 Projects service:  The service will host project factsheets and contact details for every project funded under the programme. Project details are published on CORDIS after negotiation and signature of contracts between the European Commission and consortia. This follows publication of calls for proposals and the procedure whereby potential projects are selected by the European Commission to be part-financed with EU funding.
http://www.cordis.lu/fp6/projects.htm

° Model Contract  links for projects funded under the Sixth Framework Programme - New documents available :. 1. Updated version of the Frequently Asked Questions

2.  Table of all special clauses adopted applicable to the FP6 model contract and to Marie Curie model contracts for the implementation of the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Community (2002-2006).

3. Updated version of the Guide to Financial Issues relating to Indirect Actions of the Sixth Framework Programmes including the adopted special clauses applicable to the FP6 contracts: Full text

° Switzerland will contribute Euro 400 million euro to FP6: Switzerland has confirmed that it will make this contribution to the Sixth Framework Programme budget, after the country renewed its scientific and technological cooperation agreement with the European Commission on 16 January.  This also covers its participation in the Euratom programme.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY:

° European Commission hosts inaugural event to celebrate the launch of the world's first all IPv6 research network: IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is considered as a fundamental technology for the future use of Internet in general.  EU support has come through the 5th Framework Programme and broader policies such as the eEurope Action Plan. The new protocol allows for a virtually uinlimited number of addresses to allow computers or other devices to access the internet.  This is considered a crucial pre-condition for future internet development, including developing of ‘always-on’ connections and internet-capable devices such as mobile phones, car navigations systems and home appliances.  Further information:  http://www.global-ipv6.net

° Tentative Timetable for .eu  proposes ‘dot EU’ domain Name in action for November 2004

EDUCATION, TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION:

° Europass to offer transparent qualifications: The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a decision on a single framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass).  The proposal incorporates five separate documents which focus on personal and vocational skills (European C.V.), as well as language skills (European Language Portfolio); experience of trans-national mobility (the MobiliPass, which replaces the Europass-Training, already used by over 50,000 persons); vocational qualifications (the Certificate Supplement) and higher education diplomas (the Diploma Supplement).  At the Bologna Process held in Berlin in September 2003, the Education Ministers decided the Diploma Supplement should be brought into widespread use by 2005.  The Diploma Supplement will in future be issued to all new higher education graduates, requiring immediate introduction of ICT systems.  A prototype electronic Europass will be perfected in 2004.  Information from: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/europass/index_en.html and http://europa.eu.int/agencies/cedefop/index_en.htm

° Eurostat reports figures for graduates in Science & Engineering in EU and Acceding Countries  Almost 2 million students graduated from tertiary education in the EU in 2001 (an average 40 new graduates per 1,000 population aged 20-29 years old). In the Acceding Countries, there were 630,000 new graduates (55 per 1,000 population aged 20-29 years old).  26% new EU tertiary graduates were in a science and/or engineering field, compared to 13% in the Acceding Countries. 

Sweden, Ireland and France had the highest percentage graduates in science or engineering (>30% of total graduates), Slovakia, Lithuania (both 26%) and the Czech Republic (23%) did so for Acceding Countries. 11% of new EU graduates were in science, 15% in engineering, manufacturing and construction.  This compared with 4% and 9% respectively in the Acceding Countries.   Of all countries examined only Ireland and the U.K. show higher percentages of engineering than science graduates.

Highest percentage of graduates in science were Ireland and France (20% and 15% of total graduates respectively); lowest were in Portugal and the Netherlands (each 5%). For engineering, highest values were observed in Sweden, Austria and Finland (20% or more), compared to around 10% in the U.K. and Belgium.  For engineering graduates, Lithuania had the highest percentage (21%), followed by Slovakia and Slovenia (17% each).  Malta (5%) and Cyprus (6%) recorded the lowest values.

The proportion of women in total tertiary education graduates is higher than for men in the EU and the Acceding Countries; the opposite applies for science and engineering. There the majority of graduates are men. All Member States and Acceding Countries, except the Czech Republic, had a lower proportion of women graduating in engineering than in science. The highest proportions of women engineering graduates were in Portugal, Lithuania, Slovakia and Latvia (30% - 35%).  Further information: [Table and further information]

° Education and training Information available by hyper-link:

1. Proposal for a Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No 337/75 establishing a European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.  Further information available: Full Text

2. Commission's  Annual report on European Training Foundation, 2002  - http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/rpt/2003/com2003_0809en01.pdf

THE ENVIRONMENT:    

° Irish Environment Minister Martin Cullen speaks on Ireland’s EU environment programme: Announcing the Presidency’s environmental programme, Minister Cullen highlighted: the Lisbon Agenda, The Environmental Technologies Action Plan, Cross-border movements of waste, Championing economic instruments such as the plastic bag levy to change behaviour and Climate change.  An Informal Council of Environment Ministers in Waterford in May will concentrate efforts on waste prevention and recycling.  The Minister has included air pollution and the new regulation on EU chemicals as key issues in his programme.  He hopes to achieve agreement by June on a new directive on heavy metals in air.

° EU adopted action plan to boost Environmental Technologies: The action plan aims to overcome barriers to implementing new environmental technologies by a variety of measures (there are 11 priority actions) to include: launch of technology platforms with stakeholders in areas such as hydrogen and fuel cells, photovoltaics and water supply and sanitation; establishing environmental performance targets for products and services and making the most of funding schemes for public and private procurement policies.  A European Panel on Environmental Technologies will be set up and Member States should be closely involved in exchanging information on best practice, establishing indicators for measuring progress and peer review and establishing guidelines and timetables for the Action Plan.  Further information: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/etap/

° Commission report on implementation of Directive on natural habitats (Directive 92/43).  Following the UNEP Global Biodiversity Report which states that in some EU Member States up to 24% of the species of certain groups such as butterflies, birds and mammals are presently extinct, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has concluded that the decline of EU biodiversity results from highly intensive partially industrialised forms of agricultural and silvicultural land use, an increased fragmentation of remaining natural habitats by infrastructure and urbanisation, exposure to mass tourism and pollution of water and air.  Projected growth of economic activity means that the rate of loss of biodiversity is far more likely to increase than stabilise.

° Commission acts to protect biodiversity of EU’s mountain regions: The European Commission has approved a list of 959 nature sites in the EU’s mountain regions, signifying improved protection of the areas, their many endangered animal and plant species.  The list covers sits in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines and the Fennoscandian mountains.  The next step for the Alpine network is designation of all sites by Member States under their national law, including the granting of an appropriate national protection status and establishing the necessary management regime. 

Further information on the Alpine list (decision-text and annexes, overview maps, background material) is on: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/natura_biogeographic.htm (Alpine list). The Report on the Habitats Directive, is on: http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/docum.htm
 

° Text available for proposed Directive: Proposal for a Directive on the quality of fresh waters needing protection or improvement in order to support fish life (Codified version) Full Text

° Environmental Research Support to Baltic: The European Commission is providing over Euro 3 million support to the 4-year ‘BONUS’ project to improve environmental and sustainable developments of the Baltic Sea.  The Baltic Sea is Europe’s largest internal water basin bordered by Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Poland and Germany.  The project is funded under the new ERA-NET scheme as part of the EU 6FP design to encourage the creation of close-long-term links between national research programmes with shared goals.  ERA-NET scheme information is to be found on: http://www.cordis.lu/coordination/home.html 

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/fp6/coordination/era-net_en.html

° Swiss scientists predict variable weather ahead: According to research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology summer temperatures such as those in 2003 should occur only once every 46,000 years but may occur every second summer in Europe.  They suspect that in addition to raising temperatures, greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide may increase weather variability.

° EU project recommends policy ‘package’ as effect route to increase sustainability in Europe's cities:  The PROPOLIS project, funded under the 'energy, environment and sustainable development' section of the Fifth Framework Programme, developed models for predicting and mitigating the negative impacts of policies on environmental, social and economic sustainability.  Its conclusions indicate that no single policy is particularly effective on its own. 

Policies to make car travel less attractive by making it more expensive or slower, do have an impact, they are dependent upon a degree of centralisation in a city. Policies to make public transport more attractive were found to have a minimal effect on car mobility, and can also have the disadvantage of promoting urban sprawl - the further decentralisation of residences and workplaces. Land use polices, designed to increase urban density or mixed land use, were found to have little effect on car mobility without accompanying measures; they do however lay the foundations for a reduction in car mobility, offering long-term benefit. Seven cities took part in the project: Helsinki, Dortmund, Naples, Vicenza, Inverness, Bilbao and Brussels.  Models developed suggest that implementing a policy package in these cities could reduce CO2 emissions by between 15%-20%, and reduce traffic accidents between 8% -17%, in addition to reduced exposure to noise, pollutants and time spent in traffic. Correct policies would also increase city centre accessibility.

° Environmental cases: As there are a great many environmental cases published by the European Commission this month, a special Annexe has been set out at the end of this Brief which also outlines the legal procedures of the Commission in such cases. See also: http://europa.eu.int/comm/secretariat_general/sgb/droit_com/index_en.htm#infractions

ENERGY:  

° 2003 EU Awards of the Renewable Energy Campaign for Take-Off: Awards took place during the European Conference for Renewable Energy, held in Berlin.  In the future support to initiatives promoting renewable energies in the Member States will be granted under the new programme “Intelligent Energy Europe” adopted in June 2003, with a 4-year budget of Euro 250 million for the enlarged Europe. http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy/res/index_en.htm

° Parliament gives green light for nuclear package directives: The European Parliament has adopted two non-binding resolutions on closely linked proposed directives concerning nuclear plant safety and nuclear waste management and a non-binding resolution on a draft decision of the Council on Euratom loans, amending current legislation in the area.  Nuclear safety is primarily the responsibility of Member States and will remain so, although the Commission has sought to expand its competence in nuclear safety control.  To ensure high common standards for nuclear safety, Parliament proposes establishing a "Regulatory Authorities Committee” of representatives of national regulatory bodies to carry out reviews and horizontal control in line with the proposed directive. Member States should also ensure that the exposure suffered by the general public and by workers to ionising radiation during construction, operation and decommissioning is restricted to the lowest level that is technically achievable. (See also reports listed in the European Parliament section of this brief).

TRANSPORT:

° New car safety technology addresses key challenges for accident response : An EU funded project from the 5^th Framework Programme has developed an in-car safety system that could speed up the arrival of emergency services at accident scenes, and overcome language barriers that can prove fatal for people involved in car crashes in a foreign country.  The 'E-merge' in-car system automatically senses when a car has crashed and sends a message to emergency services in the local language indicating that the accident has taken place. Further information, http://dbs.cordis.lu/fep-cgi/srchidadb?ACTION=D&CALLER=PROJ_IST&QM_EP_RCN_A=61501

INFRASTRUCTURE FINANCING:

° The European Commission has adopted a decision to provide Kosovo with an additional Euro 16 million assistance to be implemented by the European Agency for Reconstruction in Pristina.  Approximately Euro 5 million will be dedicated to development of an initial sewage treatment and disposal programme to improve environment and public health.  Since 1999, the EU has provided over Euro 1.6 billion to finance reconstruction economic revitalisation, institution building and social development, building on previous humanitarian assistance.

° The Commission has produced its third report on the three pre-accession instruments and their co-ordination. ( Report from the Commission - general report on pre-accession assistance (Phare - ISPA - Sapard) in 2002 )  The instruments are PHARE, SAPARD and ISPA.  PHARE activities may support measures in the fields of environment and transport if they constitute a secondary but essential component of integrated programmes for regional development or industrial restructuring (Euro 1,699 million).  ISPA finances large infrastructure projects in the transport and environment sectors (Euro 1,107.4 million). SAPARD which finances measures to support agriculture and rural development is managed by the beneficiary countries.

° Lending from EIB

The EIB is providing Euro 250 million long-term financing for the STIB, the public transport body for Brussels for financing of tram and bus projects in the city.  In the last 5 years the EIB has granted some Euro 9 billion to European urban transport projects – mainly underground railway and tram projects – for Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenhagen, Dublin, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Prague, Rome and Stockholm.

° An EIB loan of Euro GBP100 million, financed through a back-to-back RPI-linked bond, for design and construction of a new 859 bed acute hospital for Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals NHS Trust (Essex, U.K.)

° The EIB is providing a Euro 75 Million Global Loan to Nova Ljulbljanska Banka d.d. for financing of projects of small and medium-scale businesses and municipalities in Slovenia.

° A loan of Euro 25 million is being granted to the St. Petersburg water company Vodokanel for the South West Wastewater Treatment Plant and associated works.  The project is the first in Russia to benefit from EIB financing following a decision of the Stockholm EU Council to authorise activity by the Bank in support of environmental projects in the Baltic Sea Rim of Russia.

° The EIB held a conference in London in January on “Private Sector Development in the Mediterranean Partner Countries” (MPCs) following a first conference in Casablanca (Morocco) earlier in the month.  Further meetings will also follow as a result of decisions at the December 2003 European Council to strengthen Euromediterranean partnership.  The facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) foresees Euro 8-10 billion funding of investments in MPCs by 2006.  The top priority is promotion of private sector development. 

-     Further Information on European Investment Bank loans is to be found on http://www.eib.org

° Lending from EBRD, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

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