Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

[**Avis juridique important**](../../../editorial/legal_notice.htm)

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# 91997E1615

**WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1615/97 by José VALVERDE LÓPEZ to the Commission. Spanish involvement in agri-industrial projects** 
  
*Official Journal C 060 , 25/02/1998 P. 0031*

  

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1615/97 by José Valverde López (PPE) to the Commission (7 May 1997)

Subject: Spanish involvement in agri-industrial projects

The Commission has recently approved 62 projects under the agricultural research programme. The Commission's selection of projects still inspires little confidence among researchers, who believe that procedures are insufficiently transparent and assessments inadequately based.

Does the Commission plan to alter the procedures?

How many Spanish scientific organizations are involved in the projects approved so far?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (17 June 1997)

The Commission has not received any substantive evidence of the criticism to which the Honourable Member refers.

The criteria and procedures used for evaluating proposals and selecting projects under the specific research and technological development (RDT) programmes are clearly set out in the information packages prepared by each RTD programme and made available to potential proposers. These criteria are applied by the independent experts who evaluate the proposals and provide advice to the Commission.

In the context of the discussions on the forthcoming fifth framework programme for research and technological development, management issues, including selection procedures, are currently being examined with a view to learning from best practice and making the procedures even more transparent. Any changed management procedures which result from these discussions will be subject to the fundamental principles which have always governed the implementation of Community research programmes, namely equal access, equitable treatment, excellence as a priority, efficiency and transparency of procedures.

A total of 195 Spanish participants (research institutions, universities and industries) are involved in the 360 research projects selected for funding so far, under the first four calls for proposals of the Agriculture and fisheries specific RTD programme, FAIR, (1994-1998).

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