Research RTD, 4th framework-programme 1994-1998: adjustment of funding following 1995 enlargement (amend. Decision 1110/94/EC)

Mr LINKOHR (PSE, D) noted that Parliament had a power of codecision in the area of non-nuclear research, but could only be consulted on nuclear research. It was crucial to put an end to Parliament’s ‘impotence’ in this area. Following the accession of Finland, Sweden and Austria, appropriations for the RTD programme should increase by 7% over the entire programme. Moreover, research could not just be managed; it had to be stimulated. The Commissioner, Mrs CRESSON, shared the concerns about proper administration of certain Council delegations with a view to ensuring that the increase in management and personnel expenditure was considerably lower than the overall increase in the research budget and she hoped that a compromise would be reached on this point. As regards the two amendments tabled by the Committee on Energy, the Commission could take over the amendment on the allocation of the supplementary funds between the two periods covered by the framework programme as part of the annual budgetary procedure. However, it rejected the second amendment, which sought to apply the 7% increase to the additional expenditure of ECU 700 million, as it would prefer to look at this issue during the debate on additional expenditure to be held in the last quarter of the year, in accordance with the established work programme.