Brussels, 26/06/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 23 June, in Brussels, the EU Council of Ministers gave its go-ahead to the Eurostars programme, a research and development programme jointly set up by 31 countries to stimulate SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) research capacities in Europe. The programme, which brings together 26 EU member states as well as Iceland, Israel, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, aims to support European SMEs that invest in research activities, thus allowing them to become competitive at world level. Eurostars will have a €100 million budget as part of the 7th European Union framework programme on research and development (7th FPRD). This amount will be increased by at least €300 million allocated by participant countries. The initiative is established pursuant to Article 169 of the EU Treaty, which supports integration of national research programmes in specific fields. (B.C./transl.jl)