Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the participation of the Union in a Research and Development Programme jointly undertaken by several Member States aimed at supporting research performing small and medium-sized enterprises

This proposal concerns the participation of the European Union, on the basis of Article 185 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), in the Eurostars-2 Joint Programme (Eurostars-2) undertaken by several Member States as a follow-up to the Eurostars Joint Programme.

The overall objectives of Eurostars-2 are:
- to promote market-oriented transnational research activities in any fields of research-performing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those without previous experience in transnational research, leading to the placing of new or improved products, processes and services on the market;
- to contribute to the completion of the European Research Area (ERA) and to increase the accessibility, efficiency and efficacy of public funding for research-performing SMEs in Europe by aligning, harmonising and synchronising the national funding mechanisms.

The competitiveness of research-performing SMEs will be enhanced and will therefore actively contribute to European economic growth and job creation to achieve the Europe 2020 objectives.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)493: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:493:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)242: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:242:FIN

EUR-Lex: SWD(2013)243: Executive summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=SWD:2013:243:FIN

ESO: Background information: Website: Eurostars Programme http://www.europeansources.info/record/website-eurostars-programme/

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