16/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 12 September, Commissioner Janez Potocnik attended a meeting of the industry committee at the European Parliament focusing on the future European Research Council. Overwhelmed by questions from MEPS who deplored the fact that the Parliament has not been involved in selecting those who are to make up the scientific Council of the body, the Commissioner found it hard to gain acceptance for the mechanism for cooptation by a panel of scientists. Since this structure was launched to guarantee the establishment of research programmes chosen solely because of their scientific interest, the Commission is regularly confronted with the problem of having to deal with the political staff, governments and pressure groups that have a taste for influencing the composition of the group, which would be tantamount to making it less autonomous.