Brussels, 13/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Cooperation in the EuroMed area on research and innovation could be renewed in the future, said EU28 ministers at a meeting in Athens on 13 May.
After a debate on the matter, the Greek education minister, Constantinos Arvanitopoulos, who chaired the discussion, said that the ministers will be publishing a formal conclusion document at the end of the year about renewed EuroMed cooperation. The European Commission will then issue formal proposals at the end of 2016, he added, commenting that renewing cooperation in the EuroMed on research and innovation should be based on mutual ownership and benefit. Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan Quinn said that such partnerships were able to be open to non-EU countries to the south and west of the EU. The European ministers discussed assessment of innovation partnerships based on recommendations by academic experts of how they can be improved. Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki also attended the meeting, where she presented her recent report on innovation in the marine economy, which was published by the Commission on Thursday 8 May. She hoped the European summit in June would discuss growth in the marine economy. (MD)