Press Release: Commissioner Potočnik participates in the inauguration of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN

In Geneva today, European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik participated in the formal inauguration of the CERN'S Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s largest and most complex scientific instrument ever built to study the basic constituents of matters – the fundamental particles. Following the successful circulation of the first beam in the LHC on 10 September, Heads of Government, Research Ministers and High Representatives of CERN's Members and Observer States and other countries, as well as over a thousand leading EU and international scientists will participate in this event. While the bulk of the construction cost of LHC was supported by CERN's Member States, the European Union has been an active participant in the setting up and implementation of the ambitious research programmes of the LHC, in particular through the FP6 and FP7 European Research Infrastructures and Marie Curie budgets.