Brussels, 21/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - Except in the case of dissension within its ranks on ethical issues, the European Commission is expected to adopt, on Wednesday, with a view to the European Council of Barcelona, a report on the situation of the biotechnology sector in Europe together with an action plan aimed at making the EU catch up with the United States and Japan in biotechnology and achieve the aims set in Lisbon - to make Europe the most competitive knowledge economy in the world by 2010.
The report will give the main obstacles for the development of biotechnology, such as ethical issues and controversy caused by the dissemination of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into the environment. These ethical issues, moreover, could force the College to defer its decision to adopt the action plan. Some of its members would espouse the position of Member States like Germany where research on human embryos is banned and which do not therefore wish to finance such research elsewhere via their participation in the research section of the Community budget.
The action plan would fix a certain number of aims to be achieved, especially: - better calibration of education and training; - tax adjustments, in so far as certain tax regimes hinder the mobility of researchers; - intensified research (part of the plan referring to the 6th Framework Programme) and larger budgets for this at national level; - development of bioinformatics infrastructure (creation of software with a view to structuring existing data), mainly thanks to the support of the European Investment Fund; - networking of companies in the sector; - an agreement on the European Patent; - better access to venture capital, with a special role assigned to the European Investment Bank with this in view; - adoption of measures, mainly tax incentives, in favour of greater industrial investment in research; - increased State aid in favour of research (but not of development, which would be likely to pose problems at the level of WTO); - and intensified cooperation between regions through regional funds.
European Parliament plenary session