The regional aspect of research is of major importance to Parliament which, in its resolution of 18 May 2000, calls on the Commission to ensure that Objective 1 regions employ at least 5
% of the Structural Funds which they have not used in order to promote scientific research in various sectors, so as to reduce the technological gap between those regions and the rest of Europe and prevent unused Structural Funds from being withdrawn. In that same resolution, Parliament also calls
for Structural Fund activities to be integrated with research pro
grammes so ...[+++] that the former provide research infrastructure in less-favoured regions and the latter provide the mechanisms and financial means for high-level scientific collaboration.
Dans cette résolution, le Parlement demande aussi une intégration des activités menées au titre des Fonds structurels, d'une part, et des programmes de recherche d'autre part, de manière telle que les premiers servent à créer une infrastructure de recherche dans les régions les moins favorisées, et que les seconds fournissent les mécanismes et les moyens financiers à une collaboration scientifique de haut niveau.