Brussels, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Using the written procedure on 1 February, the EU Council of Ministers adopted three decisions addressing the follow-up to the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which expired on 23 July 2002. The decisions relate to: implementation of the Protocol of the Treaty of Nice on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the Research Fund for Coal and Steel: multi-annual financial guidelines for managing ECSC assets in liquidation and, on completion of liquidation, the assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel; and multi-annual technical guidelines for the research programme to be financed by the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.
The Nice Protocol transfers the ECSC's assets and liabilities (some EUR 1.6 billion) to the European Community for research related to the coal and steel industries. Under the Protocol, 27.2% of this funding will go to coal related research and 72.8% to steel related research.