EC/Russia agreement on cooperation in science and technology: renewal

PURPOSE: to renew the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Russia.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: Council may adopt the act only if Parliament has given its consent to the act. 

BACKGROUND:  the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Russia was signed in Brussels on 16 November 2000. This Agreement stipulates that it shall be concluded for an initial period ending on 31 December 2002 and will be renewable by common agreement between the parties for additional periods of five years.

By its Decision 2009/313/EC, the Council concluded the renewal of the Agreement for a further period of five years.

The Parties to the Agreement consider that a renewal of the Agreement would be in their mutual interest. Therefore, it is proposed to renew it. The content of the renewed Agreement will be identical to the content of the Agreement.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT: following a review of the Agreement, jointly conducted by independent experts from the EU and Russia, a set of recommendations was drawn up by the appointed expert groups. Both sides took note of the expert groups' recommendation to renew the Agreement in its current form for another five years at a meeting between representatives from the European Commission and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation held on 15 February 2013 in Moscow.

LEGAL BASIS: Article 186 in conjunction with point (v) of Article 218(6)(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

CONTENT: with the proposed Decision, the Council is called upon to approve, on behalf of the European Union, the renewal of the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Russia, for an additional period of five years, on behalf of the European Union.

The content of the renewed Agreement will be identical to the content of the Agreement, which expires on 20 February 2014.

It should be noted that as a consequence of the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the European Union has replaced and succeeded the European Community. Therefore any references have been changed to the appropriate wording.

BUDGETARY IMPLICATIONS: the indicative budgetary implications are estimated at EUR 550 000 in commitments for 2014-2019.