Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, the EU's commissioner for research, innovation and science, believes that the bloc's target of spending 3% of GDP on research and development (R&D) must remain in place if Europe is to put itself firmly on the road to economic recovery.
The new commissioner acknowledged current debates surrounding the 3% R&D objective but insisted that now is the wrong time to make cutbacks in a sector that is underperforming in many EU member states.
Geoghegan-Quinn was delivering the keynote address on Friday (5 March) at the Lisbon Council's 2010 Innovation Summit, her first major speech as innovation commissioner since the European Parliament hearing in January.
Speaking about the 3% target, she said, ''I know that this is controversial. But I believe that it should stay. Research ministers have told me in clear terms that its existence has strengthened their hand in their dealings with their finance ministers […] Now is exactly the wrong moment to remove this discipline.''
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Author: EurActiv
