Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm very honoured and pleased to be here today to set out some views shared be a substantial number of members of the European Parliament. It is important for me to make it clear that there exists a real and deep interest for research and science in the Parliament. Research in natural science often leads to development of new technology. This technology should be used in private enterprises to create new attractive and well-paid jobs.
Research is one of Europe's best investment areas for the future.
A high degree of electronic service and high technology products is needed if we want to maintain the level of welfare and service demanded by the European citizens. However, the European Parliament is aware of conditions which give rise to concern. In discussions in the European Parliament there is a broad consensus about the fact that the technical and natural science has a scarcity of qualified labour. The European Union has a clear role to play to try to strengthen Europe's ability to develop our knowledge based industry and service sectors. However, the problems start already in the primary school.