FINLAND: EU leaders yesterday discussed ideas such as setting up a European Institute of Technology (EIT) and developing a community patent system to boost innovation.
At a summit in Finland they also briefly discussed the crisis in Darfur and the tide of immigrants flooding into southern EU states such as Spain and Malta from Africa.
But much of the meeting was devoted to developing new proposals that would enable Europe to withstand the pressures caused by globalisation and help to boost its economy.
EU leaders gave their cautious backing to a European Commission plan to establish the EIT, which is expected to cost €2.4 billion over seven years. The EIT is billed as Europe's answer to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. It would seek to break down barriers that separate research, education and business and create a network of researchers across Europe. However, several states, including Germany and Britain, are sceptical about the institute, which is a pet project of commission president José Manuel Barroso. They fear that the flagship project will divert cash from existing European research programmes and undermine existing universities.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said if the proposed institute was well financed it could become a "shop front for European capabilities". However, there was still a lot of work to be undertaken on the proposal, she added.
Despite months of lobbying by commission officials, the EIT has so far failed to attract private sector cash, with only €310 million of its total budget identified. This money would come from existing EU innovation spending, which goes mostly to colleges.
Proposals to set up a new community patent system to create a more efficient and workable framework for the protection of intellectual property were also discussed. In its presentation the commission said the current patchwork of different systems across the EU had failed to keep pace with the speed of integration of the single market. But significant differences remain over how many languages that patents should be translated into and whether software should be protected by patents. Following the talks yesterday Taoiseach Bertie Ahern - who tackled the issue during Ireland's presidency in 2004 - said EU leaders were still no closer to an agreement.
As the current holder of the EU's six-month rotating presidency, Finland also used the summit to propose changes to the EU working time directive. This controversial legislation restricts the amount of time to 48 hours a week that people can work across the union. It has been fiercely resisted by liberal economies such as Britain's.
Concerns over the legislation have heightened following a European Court of Justice ruling that workers' time spent on call would have to be recognised as part of the 48-hour working week. Many EU states, including Ireland, are concerned that the court's ruling could seriously undermine their healthcare systems.
The Finnish proposal circulated at the summit would amend the legislation to give employers more flexibility to keep workers on call without this time being considered part of their regular working week. It would also enable member states, such as Britain, to "opt out". In return, stricter rules would apply to states who "opt out", according to the proposal. Workers would also have to voluntarily decide to work longer than 48 hours.
Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen said the EU did not have to choose between competitiveness and good working life or social protection.
Meanwhile, British prime minister Tony Blair urged EU leaders to step up the diplomatic pressure on Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.
Spanish prime minister José Luis Zapatero also urged leaders to help his country cope with a tide of migrants from Africa by sending money, aircraft and boats.