Marc Hansen, Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, presented the priorities of the Luxembourgish Presidency to Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament meeting in Brussels on 15 July 2015.
The development and achievement of the European Research Area (ERA) are at the heart of efforts of the Luxembourg Presidency, stated Marc Hansen, committed to improving the coordination and coherence of research policies at EU level.
The Secretary of State then referred to two European Commission progress reports which reveal a fragmentation of the ERA between the Member States.. To deal with this issue, a roadmap for the ERA for the period 2015-2020, produced over 18 months, was adopted during the Competitiveness Council of 29 May 2015, observed Marc Hansen.
The Secretary of State affirmed that the Presidency will attach 'particular importance' to implementing the conclusions adopted by the Competitiveness Council. 'Reform of governance and, in particular, the advisory structure, as well as groups linked to the European Research Area, will be an absolute priority under the Luxembourg Presidency', stated Marc Hansen.
One of the objectives is the transformation of the Presidency of the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC); a 'major' reform which seeks to put the Member States and the Commission on an equal footing, according to Marc Hansen. The Presidency of ERAC, currently held by the Commission with an elected Vice-President from a Member State, will become a Co-Presidency with equal responsibilities shared by a representative of the Commission and an elected representative from a Member State. The objective of the Presidency is to adopt the conclusions of the Competitiveness Council of 1 December 2015. 'By consolidating ERAC strategic guidelines, we are convinced that the ERAC advisory structure will play its full part in providing early opinions to the Council, Commission and Member States', concluded Marc Hansen.
Gender equality and gender mainstreaming in research, the fourth priority of the roadmap, is another concern of the Presidency and will be discussed at anInformal Meeting on 21 July 2015. Marc Hansen stressed that this issue is very topical, referring to a Resolution adopted by the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) on 14 July 2015 on the need to enable women to remove the glass ceiling preventing them to reach top positions in the science and technology field.
The Luxembourg Presidency seeks real changes at institutional level and will champion open recruitment procedures, based on transparent and non-discriminatory assessment and selection procedures rooted in excellence, stated Marc Hansen. The objective of the Presidency is to 'make real progress in achieving a better balance between men and women in positions of responsibility and leadership', where women are 'clearly in the minority'. According to Marc Hansen, it is necessary to monitor institutional developments with regard to gender equality and integrating this aspect into policy reforms.
Promoting research integrity is another priority of the Presidency which seeks to initiate discussions on scientific integrity and preventing misconduct with a particular focus on training, stated the Secretary of State. Marc Hansen predicts that conclusions in that regard will be adopted at the Competitiveness Council in December.
During the debate, MEPs criticised the fact that in order to finance Juncker's investment plan, EUR 2.7 billion will come from the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020. For Hans-Olaf Henkel, Vice-President of the ITRE Committee, Horizon 2020 has been 'looted' and he noted that he had never observed such a consensus within the European Parliament on any other issue. Marc Hansen replied that Luxembourg shared this point of view and that the money from Horizon 2020 had been well and truly 'stolen, pilfered and plundered', borrowing the expressions used by the MEPs. 'This is a shared concern', he affirmed, indicating that an exchange of views would take place in December. 'We must ensure that this money is invested in research and innovation', he stressed.
The majority of MEPs congratulated the Presidency for having made gender equality a priority. One MEP requested that Marc Hansen focus on the precarious situation of researchers who often have fixed-term contracts, explaining that this was one of the reasons why so many researchers went abroad. Hans-Olaf Henkel added that countries such as the United States, Finland or Sweden invested a lot more in research and that it is necessary to encourage EU Member States to reach the traget of 3% GDP.