Joint Activities

With the five ERA-Partnership Initiatives resulting from the discussions on the ERA Green Paper, a process of deepening the cooperation between Member States and the European Commission has been continued. This process had already started with the 6th Framework Programme by setting up the ERA-NET Scheme and using the possibilities that Art. 169 of the EC Treaty provides. Coordination and cooperation among those who develop and manage research programmes has been enforced to increase the efficiency and impact of national public research funding. But there have also been initiatives by Member States outside these ERA-instruments e.g. the D-A-CH Agreement, a cooperation activity between research funding agencies in Germany, Switzerland and Austria (for further information see section Best Practice).