Preparation of the Spring European Council (Extracted from Results of the Competitiveness Council)

Results of the Competitiveness Council of Ministers, Brussels, 3rd March 2003

Ministers endorsed the Report of the Competitiveness Council to the Spring European Council. The Report stresses the need for increased co-ordination between Member States to create the European Research Area (ERA), a true internal market for science and knowledge, through the open method of co-ordination.

This should firstly be applied to a number of research-related areas, such as the objective of raising European research spending to 3% of EU average gross domestic product (GDP), up from the current 1,9%. The debate proved that Member States are clearly committed to applying the open method of co-ordination in the research field.

DN: MEMO/03/47 Date: 04/03/2003