On Wednesday 17 April, the European Parliament supported, by a very large majority (527 votes in favour, 26 against and 55 abstentions) the report by Christian Ehler (EPP, Germany) on the renewal for five years of the EU/Russia Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. The current agreement expired on 20 February.
According to the European Commission, renewing the agreement makes it possible to “continue to facilitate cooperation with Russia in common priority areas of science and technology that benefit both sides”. This cooperation has always been very active, particularly in the fields of research infrastructures, transport and the environment. The agreement aims to strengthen people-to-people contacts and STI cooperation in areas of strategic EU interest in the coming years, in order to counter the downward trend in the intensity of scientific collaboration between EU and Russian participants.
This is the first time since Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 that this agreement, which entered into force in May 2001, has been subject to a renewal procedure. According to the Commission, “science diplomacy (can) be a powerful tool” in bilateral relations, “because it provides a programme of positive cooperation and constitutes a source of soft power that can be particularly decisive in catalysing and opening channels of communication and creating a climate of trust between (the) societies”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)