Brussels, 25/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 25 September, the Swedish Presidency called on member states not to reduce their research and development budgets, despite the crisis. “While we are still in the economic crisis, it is essential that European countries do not reduce their investment. On the contrary, they should invest more,” said Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Tobias Krantz following a meeting with his counterparts from the other EU countries in Brussels. “We have to send a message to finance ministers, telling them: Do not cut budgets,” he added. At the meeting, the Irish minister said that, as a general rule, European finance ministers regarded the knowledge triangle (education, research and innovation) as a kind of Bermuda Triangle, a hole into which money was thrown. European Research Commissioner Janez Potoènik pointed out that the target set at the Barcelona summit in 2002 was to increase the level of spending on R&D to 3% of GDP by 2010. “Although the majority of states have increased their spending over the last few years, not even a target of 2.5-2.6% will be reached by 2010. It will be a great surprise if we make it,” he said. He went on to argue that it would be a grave error to stop investing research. At the meeting, several countries said they wanted public spending targets revised in line with means. “We have never said that all member states had to achieve the target of 3%. Every country has different objectives, but we should be able to reach an average of 3% across the EU,” Potoènik stated. During the meeting, ministers debated the perspectives of the European Research Area (ERA) plan for innovation and development in preparation for the Competitiveness Council in December 2009, when the Presidency is expected to present a raft of conclusions on this issue. The incoming European Commission should also submit proposals before the start of 2010 on the future plan. Germany, backed by a number of countries, stressed the need for the EU to re-think the traditional approach to innovation, which consists of focusing on the purely technological approach. It argued that the focus should be on major areas, such as health, tackling climate change, energy resources, mobility and security. Denmark stressed that effort had to be maintained in education, with the possible creation of an Erasmus scheme centred on the main challenges of the future. The United Kingdom argued for simplification of the loans procedures which, for the moment, discourage industry from seeking loans. Portugal said it backed the creation of a mechanism to cut red tape, which was harming the development of Community programmes. For France, completion of the ERA needed strengthened partnership among member states if fragmentation was to be avoided. It stressed the usefulness of the joint programming pilot project to coordinate research on Alzheimer's Disease. The French minister drew attention to the inadequacy of European investment in high tech. “We are finding it hard to get our own Yahoo or Google,” he regretted. Romania said progress in innovation would be enhanced by a European patent. Latvia said that initiatives leading to marketable products should be pushed. Cyprus put the accent on developing some kind of regional specialisation in innovation. At the meeting Potoènik also took stock of developments in the ITER project, which is likely to be delayed, and could also see its budget requirements rise sharply (see EUROPE 9925). European experts will meet next week to try to define guidelines that are particular to the EU ahead of the next ITER Council at the end of November. The commissioner told ministers that the project must not be allowed to slow. (B.C./transl.rt)