European Parliament adopts seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) - 2007-2013

Wednesday 15 November 2006

At its plenary session of November 2006, the European Parliament gave its final approval to FP7 that will run from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2013.

A major change compared with FP6 lies within the European Research Council (ERC) : funding and other decisions by ERC will be taken by scientists only. No political considerations will thus be taken into account when deciding on allocation of the ERC funds.

In terms of funding, the FP7 budget represents a 40% yearly increase in real terms and a 60% yearly increase in nominal terms (75% in 2013) compared with FP6.

The Council debates of June 2006 on FP7 focused on the funding of research activities involving human embryonic stem cells.

A political agreement was reached on July 2006 by a small majority after assurances that no funding will be granted to research activities that destroy human embryos or are aimed at the procurement of stem cells.

The FP6 rules will continue to apply for the funding of stem-cell research. The Commission will publish a declaration on the ethical framework of this type of funding in the Official Journal.

The declaration will also be part of the FP7 package. The declaration will namely prohibit the destruction of embryos solely for the purposes of research or stem-cell procurement.

The Commission is now expected to adopt the work programme and publish the first calls for proposals. A debate on the European Research Area will be launched early 2007.