Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Article Category

Content archived on 2022-12-21

Article available in the following languages:

MEP pleased with Parliament's vote on FP6 proposals, but urges more dialogue with citizens

Speaking to CORDIS News on 20 November, German MEP Emilia Franziska Müller said how pleased she was with aspects of the European Parliament's vote on the Commission's proposals for the Sixth Framework programme (FP6), including the rejection of peer review and the provision of...

Speaking to CORDIS News on 20 November, German MEP Emilia Franziska Müller said how pleased she was with aspects of the European Parliament's vote on the Commission's proposals for the Sixth Framework programme (FP6), including the rejection of peer review and the provision of resources for qualitative evaluation. 'I was satisfied that the peer review technique was not successful in the vote, and that because of that, we will not have double testing, as we have currently,' she told CORDIS News. Speaking at a briefing on sustainable industrial production in the chemical industry organised by the Commission, Ms Müller was keen to emphasise the importance of informing citizens about progress in scientific research, saying that the vote had caused people to voice their reservations in a 'hail of e-mails and letters to MEPs', mainly on ethical issues such as stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. Ms Müller also spoke with concern about a recent comment by an American historian, Eric Hobsbawn. He claimed that, in general, there are four different negative attitudes to research among the public: science is incomprehensible, its practical and ethical consequences are unforeseeable and very likely to be disastrous; science makes the individual helpless and undermines authority; and science is dangerous because it disrupts the natural order of things. The MEP called on academics, scientists and the media to play their part in informing the public about research. More dialogue is also needed if public acceptance of spending on certain products and technologies is to be gained, said Ms Müller. 'Only then can increased public spending on new technology be politically justified and implemented,' she said.