Brussels, 17/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - The European Union will be pledging up to EUR 100 million, i.e. $120 million, Commissioner Markos Kyprianou told AFP on the sidelines of the donors' conference currently being held in Beijing (see other article in this bulletin). This amount is EUR 20 million higher than the first announced on Friday in Brussels (see EUROPE 9109) and is equivalent to that promised by the United States, Mr Kyprianou said, before going on to recall that EU Member State contributions are in addition to the amount from the Community budget and the EDF. According to the Commissioner, the contribution from Member States should be at least equivalent to the Community contribution. In reality, the EUR 20 million added to the EU contribution comes from the 6th Framework Programme for Research and is not therefore an additional sum to help poor countries combat avian flu. The decision to include the sum came after having noted that other participants at the Beijing conference had also included funds for research in their budgets. The EUR 20 million was taken at Commissioner Janez Potocnik's request from the flexibility budget for new needs identified during the 6th framework programme. It is the subject of a call for proposals concerning research projects on avian flu and human flu as published in the Official Journal of 22 December 2005. The call for proposals will be closed on 22 March 2006.