RESEARCH COUNCIL: FRAMEWORK FIVE RARING TO GO, ALMOST.

Summary: The penultimate session of the EU Council of Ministers to be steered by Austria will be staged on December 22 in Brussels and will be focused on research. The meeting should theoretically set the scene for the final stamp of approval for the Fifth Framework Programme of Research and Technological Development. The Ministers will be confirming the agreement they concluded on November 17 with the European Parliament under the conciliation procedure. They are also expected to pass all the specific programmes, which serve to define what Framework 5 contains. In spite of one or two hurdles that might mean various in-depth debates, particularly on the question of whether research into human embryos should be sustained, the Austrian Presidency is said to be "extremely optimistic" about the outcome of this meeting.

Four Decisions are to be formally adopted without further debate: - a Decision established the European Community's Fifth Framework Programme of R & D (1998-2002) - a Decision establishing the European Atomic Energy Community Community's Fifth Framework Programme of R & D for (1998-2002): Euratom Framework Programme covering nuclear research - a Decision on the rules of participation for enterprises, research centres and universities (EC programme) - a Decision on the rules of participation for enterprises, research centres and universities (Euratom programme) As for other programmes, the Ministers are required to reach agreement on the pattern for distributing the resources between the various key actions and priorities. They also have to settle their differences about what certain programmes contain. The key stumbling blocks are as follows: - the programme on improving human potential proposes awarding Marie Curie study grants. The Member States are continuing to row over the idea of awarding the grants to non-national residents. For example, should a Russian living in...