28/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - The French Justice Minister, Pascal Clément, and Dr Wolfgang Heusel, Director of Academy of European Law (ERA), a public foundation located in Trier and created in 1992 at the initiative of the EP, signed on Tuesday the agreement for France's accession to the ERA Foundation. It is the 16th EU State to become a member of the Academy. MEP Alain Lamassoure, Vive-President of the Association, Les Amis de l'ERA, welcomes the fact, saying: “For France, it means access to one of the major centres of training and exchange for European lawyers. In the end, we know how much Europe has been built on law. Such a centre of excellence, bringing together the best of all the legal traditions of the continent, is necessary to stimulate the inventiveness which European integration needs more than ever”.