The European Union's 25 competitiveness ministers have adopted a common position on the European Commission's Seventh Framework research programme (FP7). The agreement reflects both EC and European Parliament opinions about the structure, scientific and technological content, means of implementation and budgetary resources for the seven-year, €50.5 billion ($63.5 billion) research programme.
The proposed budget will be sent to the European Parliament for its second reading, scheduled for 29 November. "The objective is to get the programme through in the second reading to ensure a timely launch of the FP7 in January 2007," says the Finnish EC presidency.