Legislation to play limited role in campaign for ERA

摘要

According to Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, 2008 is to be the year when the European Commission will put its specific plans on the table for the future development of a European Research Area (ERA). The key questions are what these initiatives will be and what impact can we expect from them.rnThe concept of the ERA is a broad one (see box), and the Commission has a habit of linking almost any initiative in the area of science and research to its further development. The Commission held a public consultation, during 2007, on the next steps to develop it, on the basis that concrete initiatives will follow this year.rnA noticeable point is that, according to the Commission's current thinking, these concrete initiatives will only involve one legislative proposal. This will be a proposal to create a "dedicated legal framework for the construction and operation of new pan-European research infrastructures".