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At the informal meeting of the Ministers of Competitiveness (Science and Industry), to be held between 7 and 9 February in San Sebastian, the issues on the table will include placing science at the top of the EU agenda and showcasing its role in economic recovery, as well taking the debate on the electric vehicle to EU level.

On Monday 8, the Minister for Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia, will chair the meeting of ministers responsible for research, who will discuss the challenges still pending for the launch of the European Research Area and the role that science can play in achieving economic recovery and growth.

This Thursday, the Director General for Science and Innovation, Montserrat Torné, explained to journalists that the informal meeting of ministers organised by the Spanish Presidency of the EU has a “strategic” nature, since the current situation (with the Treaty of Lisbon in effect, the EU-2020 strategy and the new European Commission), “is a good time for science to take on a significant role on the European agenda over the coming decade”.

“It is an opportunity for the ministers to design a new roadmap towards a knowledge-based society”, said Cristina Torné.

The meeting will also endeavour to raise the profile of the commitment of European science as well as to make it more effective, through the "Donostia Declaration", a document that will launch the concept of a responsive and responsible science, capable of providing solutions in the short-term.

The Director General for Science and Innovation predicted that the ministerial sessions would focus on the different relationships between science and European society, as well as the economic crisis and the fight against poverty.

Specifically, the ministers will discuss three main lines of action: integration, involvement and inclusion. In this first line, the aim is to provide the European Research Area with institutional significance, without this involving more red tape, but rather facilitating mobility and researchers' careers as well as expanding their employment rights.

Torné indicated that one of the specific challenges of the Spanish Presidency will be to guarantee social security for all researchers who work in Europe, creating a single database that will give them rapid access to social systems, as well as eliminating the barriers to researcher mobility, with joint efforts by the Employment and Competitiveness Councils.

The agenda of the informal meeting includes the exhibition entitled "Silicon Dreams: Art, Science and Technology", and a dinner prepared by the most important Basque Country chefs that will endeavour to demonstrate the influence of scientific progress through various dishes.

A common European strategy for electric vehicles

On Tuesday 9 February, the informal meeting on competitiveness will be devoted to industry. According to the Secretary of State for Industry, Teresa Santero, the meeting will be chaired by the Spanish minister, Miguel Sebastián, and will focus for the first time on a single issue: the electric vehicle.

“In San Sebastian the debate on the electric vehicle will be escalated to European level in order to promote a joint strategy among Member States and get them involved in this”, said Teresa Santero.

Therefore, on Tuesday 9 February there will be three information sessions and ministerial debates. During the first two, which will be held in the morning, the ministers of industry will hear experts from the energy and automobile sectors (Siemens, Renault or Iberdrola) and representatives from the institutions. According to Santero these include the Chairman of the Industry Committee of the Spanish Congress, Antonio Cuevas, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu.

In the afternoon session, the Spanish Minister of Industry, Miguel Sebastián, will present a preliminary document on the electric vehicle. “It is not a binding document”, the Secretary General for Industry pointed out, saying that he hoped that during the Spanish Presidency of the EU, the European Commission will agree to continue working towards a common electric vehicle strategy.

The day will end with the presentation of fifteen electric vehicle prototypes.