Berlin, 28/03/2007 (Agence Europe) - The new European security research programme was launched at a European conference in Berlin on 25-26 March. The principles and operation of this seven-year, €1.4 billion, programme were set out and commented on, before an audience of some one thousand representatives of national and European administrations, industry and research centres.
The aim of the programme is, in the words of German Research Minister Annette Schavan, opening the conference, “to protect us against dangers such as terrorism, crime and natural disasters, while strengthening our freedom and the rule of law”. Industry Commissioner Günter Verheugen said that a research programme at European level was needed, because, in both financial and work terms, there could be no duplication. “Only with common security solutions will Europe be able to play its expected international role, as producer of security and not only as consumer at the expenses of our Atlantic allies,” said Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini.
In all, €1.4 billion will be made available between 2007-2013, as part of the 7th research framework programme, to fund projects to improve civil security. This funding will be spread over four areas - security of citizens; security of infrastructure and utilities; intelligent surveillance and border security; and restoring security and safety in case of crisis - and three transversal actions - security systems integration, interconnectivity and interoperability; security and society; and security research coordination and structuring.
Two calls for proposals worth a total of €155 million have been open since December 2006, with the deadline of 31 May 2007. They relate to border control and the security of mass transport respectively. A further €40 million call for proposals related to information and communication technologies will be launched in August 2007. The closing date will be 29 November, the Commission pointed out at the conference. Of the programme's seven themes, the one on security systems integration, interconnectivity and interoperability will not be opened this year, the Commission said.
Preparation for the new research programme was carried out under the 6th framework programme. Between 2004 and 2006, some €45 million were allocated to fund 40 projects on, for example, airport security, protection of underground passengers and detection of explosives (see EUROPE of 13 October 2006). “That was a learning period for you and for us,” said Herbert von Bose, Head of the Security Research Unit in DG Enterprise at the Commission. The preparatory phase showed notably that themes and objectives have to be better targeted and that sensitive projects have to be dealt with, he said. Hitherto, the Commission has not dealt with a proposal containing “classified” information, but this will change in the new round of calls for proposals. It has, therefore, put in place procedures for handling this kind of information, although this will never involve information that is “top secret”, according to the European classification system.
The research programme is not about defence, insofar as it is not concerned with manufacturing arms, the Commission stressed. While some techniques are the same, the customer is different: here, it is civilian security forces and not the army, it was pointed out. One of the aims of the programme would be to allow police forces to plan their future needs, just as armies are already doing.
The preparation also showed the need to involve customers and users in developing techniques and to assess their impact on the public right from the very start of the research phase. Various speakers highlighted the “ethical” impact of this area of research on civil liberties, and noted that it was of no commercial use to develop technologies which would be rejected by citizens. In this regard, several experts stressed particularly the risks associated with the use of biometric data.
The next security research conference will be held in France in 2008, a French government representative said, without saying where or when this meeting would take place. (ns)