Source: EURLEX
Language: en
Format: md

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| ROADMAP | |
| Roadmaps aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's work in order to allow them to provide feedback and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to make available any relevant information that they may have. | |
| Title of the initiative | Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe |
| Lead DG – responsible unit | DG RTD.A.2 "ERA Governance & Implementation" |
| Likely Type of initiative | Proposal for a Council Recommendation |
| Indicative Planning | Q2-Q3 2021 |
| Additional Information | https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/era\_en |
| This Roadmap is provided for information purposes only and its content might change. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the Roadmap, including its timing, are subject to change. | |

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| A. Context, Problem definition and Subsidiarity Check |
| Context [max 10 lines] |
| Constructing the European Research Area (ERA) over the last 20 years has entailed many successes. Recently, the progress on R&I investment has however slowed down and further improvement could be achieved. On 30 September 2020, the Commission therefore adopted a communication on A New ERA for Research and Innovation (COM(2020) 628 final), in order to put in place an ERA fit to deliver on the ambition to make the transition towards a sustainable, digital and resilient Europe and to better prepare for the future. Stronger instruments are needed to achieve the new ERA’s ambitions, namely a Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe, setting out commonly agreed values and principles and indicating the areas where Member States will jointly develop priority actions. The Pact will take the form of a single non-binding initiative, that is, a Council Recommendation, as a reflection of the common and shared ambition of progressing towards a new ERA. |
| Problem the initiative aims to tackle [max 25 lines] |
| Evidence from 20 years of implementation of ERA shows that while it has contributed to major achievements in some areas (research infrastructures, open science, mobility of researchers), further improvements are necessary. In that context, the 2020 Communication calls for a deepening of the ERA, moving from an approach of coordination towards deeper integration between national policies. It calls for mobilising Member States around key principles and values, as well as the identification of priority areas for joint action. This is particularly relevant at a time when increased and more focused national funding and reforms are necessary to accelerate the twin transition. R&I are largely national competences and building the European Research Area therefore relies to a great extent on national policy reforms and national initiatives. Implementing the vision, ambitions and objectives of a new European Research Area, as set out in the Commission Communication of 30 September 2020 and the Council conclusions of 1 December 2020, calls for a Pact that sets-out commonly agreed values and principles, that have been developed throughout the past 20 years, and cover areas such as freedom of scientific research, the pursuit of excellence and socio-economic valorisation, gender equality, open access or career conditions for researchers. However, these principles have been set up ad hoc, are currently dispersed and it is difficult to monitor and assess progress made in their implementation. By setting out in a single legal act these values and principles, the Pact on R&I will guide and update new policy directions and help to monitor and assess progress made. The Pact will also identify priority areas for joint action, and in this sense will constitute a renewed commitment from Member States to mobilise their R&I policies towards the challenges that Europe faces today, notably the twin transition. |
| Basis for EU intervention (legal basis and subsidiarity check) [max 10 lines] |
| The proposed initiative is in line with Articles 179 and 181 TFEU, which gives the Union the overall competence to support, coordinate or supplement the actions of the Member States with regard to their research and technological development activities. Supporting the development of coherent agendas will provide added value in effectively achieving common objectives, realising critical mass and efficient allocation of resources. A proposal for a Council Recommendation will allow the Commission to set out, in a single legal act, commonly agreed values and principles, the main areas where Member States will jointly develop priority actions, as well as the governance for doing so, without imposing legally binding obligations. A recommendation would therefore be appropriate and proportionate. The ERA Communication made it clear that the Pact would be a non-binding instrument. Regarding the possible priority for joint actions for Member States, the emphasis should be on prioritising investment and reforms towards the EU’s priorities (digital and green transition in particular). On the values and principles of the Pact, excellence is reaffirmed as the cornerstone of ERA and the ambition is to create a concise list of key principles. |
| B. What does the initiative aim to achieve and how [max 25 lines] |
| A Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe, aims at assembling in one legal act the ERA’s values and principles in order to promote their implementation throughout the Member States. The intention is to co-create a list of positive, aspirational guiding principles together with Member States on the bases of already existing Charters and Codes and Council Conclusions in the domain of R&I policy. Such values and principles have been developed throughout the past 20 years, and cover areas such as freedom of scientific research, the pursuit of excellence and socio-economic valorisation, gender equality, open access or career conditions for researchers. A Pact for R&I in Europe will, therefore, set out in a single legal act the above mentioned most important commonly agreed values and principles underpinning the European Research Area. The Commission proposes that Member States re-affirm their commitment, not only to these principles and values but also to their implementation in national R&I policy.  The Pact aims to:  I)identify areas where Member States will develop priority actions (such as the prioritisation of investments and reforms to accelerate the twin transition)  II)sharpen the focus on long standing key values and principles (openness, excellence, mobility of researchers).  On the latter, the Pact would consolidate in one single document the most relevant principles for ERA currently dispersed (for example, the European Charter for Researchers, the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity, Council conclusions on advancing Gender Equality in the European Research Area, Bonn Declaration on scientific freedom). The Pact is an opportunity to raise awareness on these principles and further support their mainstreaming in R&I practices at national level. |
| C. Better regulation |
| Consultation of citizens and stakeholders [max 10 lines] |
| The views of multiple stakeholders have been, and will continue to be, gathered at a number of events, such as the R&I days (foreseen in June 2021). In particular, the ERA Forum for Transition (set up as an informal Commission expert group) will provide advice to the Commission, and will allow the views of the Member States and stakeholders to be taken into account in a structured way. |
| Evidence base and data collection [max 10 lines] |
| As this initiative is foreseen in the recent Commission communication on A New ERA for Research and Innovation, (COM(2020) 628 final), it relies heavily on the analytical work and evidence supporting the new European Research Area Communication (SWD(2020) 214 final). |

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