Brussels, 17/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - After adoption of the proposal for a regulation fixing the rules of participation, on 23 December, all the elements of the seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development (2007-2013) are now on the table of the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. In its half-yearly programme, the Austrian Presidency stresses that this package of proposals should be adopted well before end 2006 if the new programme is to effectively take over from the 6th FPRD early 2007. The Presidency now promises to do everything in its power, in close cooperation with Parliament, to ensure the 7th programme is launched in time. It is careful, however, to avoid fixing a more precise objective. Such caution can be understood all the more as nearly everything still remains to be done and requires the agreement of the two branches of legislative authority. At this stage, neither ministers nor MEPs have discussed specific programmes. There is, of course, already a draft report by Busek on the architecture of the framework programme and political guidelines of the Council on this general framework. However, neither MEPs nor ministers have yet had the opportunity to give their stance on financial allocations and on the new breakdown of funding arising from the future agreement on financial perspectives that is not due to appear till end March. In the meantime, the Commission will begin internal arbitration imposed by the clear cuts made by the European Council in the programme's budget last December. With just a few adjustments, this should bring linear reduction in funding without change to the structure of the programme.
As planned, the new participation rules (see also EUROPE 9089) must allow facilitated access to the framework programme. On the experience gained from the 6th FPRD, electronic tendering will be the rule in the new programme. It is accompanied by a sample convention and a cost model (replacing the three that exist at the present time). Alongside the system for reimbursement of eligible costs, the seventh framework programme will gradually introduce a financing mechanism at a fixed rate, again in order to simplify calculation. The assessment system remains in place but approval of each project by the programme committee composed of representatives of all Member States must be abandoned (this already appeared in the specific programmes). The framework programme will cover between 50 and 75% of the costs of the project and up to 100% for the exploratory research projects identified by the European Council for Research. The system of responsibility will now be based on a low withholding tax for financial risk. The text does not specify the level of this tax levied by the Commission on the subsidy that it pays, but it should be lower than 1%. Finally, banking guarantees will no longer be requested of members of a consortium except when the Community subsidy covers over 80% of the costs of the research project.