Brussels, 23/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 23 July, the European Commission received the report on review of the European Research Council (ERC) structures and mechanisms from the review panel's chairperson, Professor Vaira Vike-Freiberga. “The report emphasises the considerable achievements of the ERC and its critical role in the European Research Area, and highlights the need to take measures to ensure the sustainability of its initial success”, the European Commission states. It took five months to finalise the report, which was achieved through a broad consultation process throughout Europe. “The review is a crucial step to ensure the continued success of the ERC, a flagship of the EU's seventh research framework programme”, said Janez Potocnik, European Research Commissioner. “Although the ERC can already be described as a leader in frontier research funding in Europe, our ambitions must not stop here. The panel's findings will help us to set the direction of our future work to make the ERC a mature and fully effective part of Europe's research system”, he added. The Commission plans to publish a communication by end October, setting out the future of ERC. Ms Vike-Freiberga said for her part that “the sustainability of this success and the aim of building the ERC into a world class agency depend .. on adjustments to the operating philosophy and a constancy of the vision that led to its establishment in the first place”. Improvements brought to the ERC structure are necessary to integrate scientific and administrative aspects of governance and to streamline and simplify procedures, she explained. “We hope that the Commission will act on our recommendations swiftly, as the ERC presents a novel and essential instrument for European research”, Ms Vike-Freiberga concluded. (B.C./transl.jl)