Manuel Hallen, Research Directorate-General, European Commission

What is the European Strategy for Life Sciences and Biotechnology?
The European Commission strategy for Europe is to develop sustainable and responsible policies to address the three broad questions:

How can Europe best attract the human, industrial and financial resources? How can Europe deliver effective, credible and responsible policies which enjoy the confidence and support of its citizens? How can Europe best respond to the global challenges, develop its domestic policies with a clear international perspective and act internationally to pursue its interests?

What is the status of bioagri products registered in EU?
About 26 biotechnology products have been approved for use across the 25 member states. These include: 12 varieties of corn, 6 varieties of oilseed rape, 5 varieties of cotton, 1 variety of soybean, 1 biomass product, and 1 yeast cream.

What is progress of EU Research Framework Programmes (FP)?
We have a multilateral and comprehensive research programme. The sixth FP (2002-06) is underway. The budget for this programme was €20 billion. The primary objective of sixth FP was to focus on integration of research activities at European level and also open to Non-European countries with a view to allowing European scientists to access expertise out of Europe for mutual benefit. The EU/FP funding is close to 5-6 percent of national public/non military funding. The seventh FP is in preparation. This for 2007-13 and a proposal was adopted by the Commission on 6 April, 2005. The proposed budget for research is €73 billion.