Commission launches public consultation on PRIMA
The European Commission has now opened a public consultation on a new research and innovation initiative for improved water management and sustainable food production in the Mediterranean.
PRIMA, the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area, will involve both EU (Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) and non-EU (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey) Mediterranean states.
It is intended to reinforce international co-operation in research and innovation to address the food and water-related challenges crucial to the region’s sustainable development.
“Research co-operation between the EU and the Mediterranean region exemplifies our commitment to being open to the world and working together on global challenges,” said Carlos Moedas, European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation. “We are consulting and gathering views that will help us determine how best to ensure the sustainable provision of vital resources (water and food) in the Mediterranean Basin.”
The consultation will run until 24 April 2016. Researchers, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders will all be given the opportunity to present their views on the scope, potential impact and make-up of the PRIMA initiative.
The current proposal, which has a budget of €200m over a ten-year period starting in 2018, aims to establish PRIMA as a public-public partnership under Horizon 2020.
The consultation launched today will feed into an impact assessment of the PRIMA initiative currently being developed by the Commission.
