On 5 July 2010, current President of the Research Section of the Competitiveness Council of the EU and Brussels’ Minister for Research, Benoît Cerexhe, received a petition, entitled ‘Trust Researchers Declaration’, signed by over 13,500 researchers calling the EU for a quicker implementation of the simplification programme for researchers, which refers to the Commission Communication on ‘Simplification of the implementation of the Research Framework Programmes’. The petition is in line with the two Commission initiatives recently adopted in an effort to reduce bureaucracy and focus on research results which will allow changes to the financial regulations and a simplification of the procedures surrounding the EU's Framework Programmes for Research. The new rules will allow easier access to EU funds for researchers, help fuse more public and private funding, and get new EU programmes started. Minister Cerexhe stressed that simplification of the EU research and innovation programmes is a priority on the EU Belgian Presidency and announced that on 12 October 2010, the Belgian Presidency will present its Conclusions on the Commission Communication to the Council.

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Click here for The Commission Communication.

Clink here for the ‘Trust Researchers Declaration’.