WRITTEN DEMAND P-3372/08 BY ANDRÉ BRIE (GUE/NGL) TO THE COMMISSION


Participation by the Israelo-Arab population in those EU programmes where the state of Israel participates


By way of this parliamentary inquiry I refer, on the one hand, to the various (EU-financed) programmes in which the state of Israel participates and, on the other hand, to the participation in these of that part of the Israeli population which is of Arab descent. Since the latter after all constitutes at least a fifth of the Israeli population, I ask the Commission:

 

• whether it has data on the participation of this considerable population group in the various EU programmes (including the general research promotion programme) and if yes which;
  
   
• whether it attributes relevance to this problem – and if yes, which – and how this manifests concretely;
  
   
• whether there are, in a given case, concrete efforts by the Commission – and if yes, which -, to get this population group to participate actively in EU-financed programmes.
  
   

P-3372/08 Answer by Ms. Ferrero-Waldner in the name of the Commission (14 July 2008)


Israel participates in the EU general programme for research and technological development (FTE). At the end of 2007, Israel moreover signed an agreement on the participation in the general programme for competitiveness and innovation. However, this programme has not yet started yet.


In the case of the FTE general programmes, including RP7, project selection takes place on the basis of the scientific competence of the applicants. There are no statistics on the ethnic background of the scientists who take part in the projects.


Israel takes part in these general programmes since 1996 and takes part, moreover, in around 800 projects co-financed by the EU. The Israeli contact post for RP7 – ISERD -

carries out comprehensive information measures that cover the whole Israeli research community. Beyond that, the European Commission via the website of its delegation in Israel makes available information in several languages, among them Hebrew and Arabic, on science and technology.


The specific FP7 programme “Capacities“ includes a measure “Research potential in convergence regions“ that is conceived especially for poorer regions. The possibility to make also organisations from regions of Israel's participate in this measure is being discussed at present. The regions that qualify the best for participation would be Galilea and Negev, both regions with a high Arabic population component.