19/11/2021 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 18 November, the Council of the EU adopted the decision on the participation of the Union in the European Partnership on Metrology. It also backed a decision, on Friday 19, to set up nine new joint undertakings, focusing on health, environmental, technological or digital issues. These ten public-private partnerships - the form of which is of concern to some NGOs (see EUROPE 12696/5) - will be established under the Horizon Europe research framework programme. On Friday, the Commission welcomed the adoption of these texts, which will allow the partnerships to move into the creation phase. It will now be a matter of recruiting their staff, appointing advisory bodies and preparing their work programmes, the Commission explains. Once this is in place, “new calls for proposals will be launched to select and finance research projects”, it says. To consult the decisions adopted: https://bit.ly/3x5lfFC; https://bit.ly/30BkVm2 (AC)