EU-Agrinet: Key Action 5: External Advisory Group Report

Brussels, 16 Jul 2003

The External Advisory Group (EAG)

The EAG was composed of academic and industrial scientists from EU Member States and associated countries. Meeting two or three times a year, the group reviewed the proposed Key Action 5 Work Programme, highlighting areas of critical importance for research, ensuring that the Commission did not, for example, simply respond to those areas of agriculture with the greatest media profile.

Research projects were selected from annual calls for proposals. Following each deadline for proposals, the EAG received feedback from the Commission on what had been submitted, and on those projects selected for funding. The group evaluated how well researchers had responded to the call and identified both strengths and weaknesses in the overall research portfolio as it developed.

The EAG members performed a critical role by using their expertise and experience to look at the Europe Union's long-term agricultural, forestry and fisheries research needs. In such crucial industries, setting out the right long-term priorities for research is essential. The EAG was pivotal in ensuring that research not only responded to short-term, high-profile issues but also focused on building a sustainable industry and countryside for future generations.

The work of the EAG was supported by a number of workshops proposed by the EAG and held by the Commission on key areas of research, including:

GMO competitiveness in Europe;
Developing a sustainable and competitive agriculture in Europe;
Promoting integrated and sustainable development of rural areas; and
Crises in the food chain.

These one-day workshops drew together researchers from across Europe for discussion and provided ideas to help the Commission formulate research policy and redraft the work programmes in specific sectors.

Key Action 5 addressed a wide range of research sectors. This brochure provides details about those sectors, highlighting their aims, the research projects that were undertaken, and how well Key Action 5 performed against its initial objectives, as seen through the eyes of the EAG.

The enormous range of research supported by Key Action 5 was ambitious and the EAG was unanimous in its opinion that FP5's short funding period (1999-2002) could never have a dramatic short-term impact on each and every sector. Rather, the EAG anticipated that Key Action 5 would create and reinforce a framework for the future sustainable development of Europe's natural resources.

EAG member
Organisation
Expertise related to KA5

Professor Fons Werrij, Chairman
Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands
Management of biotechnology in agriculture

Dr Ernst Rasche, Vice-chairman
Bayer CropScience, Germany
Industrial biotechnology in agriculture

Professor Mårten Carlsson
Retired from SLU, Sweden and the Nordic Forestry, Agricultural and Veterinary University
Rural development

Dr Finn Rexen
Danish Ministry of Food, Directorate for Development
Non-food in agriculture

Professor Joyce Tait
SUPRA, Research Centre for Social Science, Scotland
Rural development and social issues in agriculture

Mr Alain Maucorps
Retired from IFREMER, France
Fisheries

Dr Paolo Raddi
Plant Protection Institute of the National Research Council (CNR), Italy
Forestry

Dr André Pouzet
CETIOM, France
Agronomy

Dr Leena Paavilainen
Wood Wisdom, Finland
Forestry

Professor Ilan Chet
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Plant biology

Dr Branislav Petko
Slovak Academy of Science, Slovakia
Animal health

Professor Ewa Lojkowska
University of Gdansk, Poland
Plant biology

Dr Silvia Zanuy
Institute of Agriculture, Spain
Animal health

Dr John Lee
Teagasc, Republic of Ireland
Plant biology

Dr Manfred Wörgetter
Federal Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Austria
Non-food in agriculture

Professor Herman Müller
Institute of Virology, University of Leipzig, Germany
Animal health

Dr Dirk Langstraat
Dutch Fish Products Board
Fisheries

Dr Tom Thomas, Ex-chairman 1998-2000
TEAGASC, Ireland
Agronomy

Professor Markus Hofreither, Ex-vice-chairman 1998-2000
University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria
Rural development

DG Research
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/research/i ndex_en.html
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/agric ulture/ka5_eagreport/eag_en.html