EU Research and Technology Policy: Balancing Between the National and the EU Dimension

Research and technological development (RTD) has been regarded as a “convenient” area of activity for the European Union, given its technical and highly extrovert nature that favors international cooperation. EU’s initiatives and allocation of funds from its budget are an indication that this particular sector has been upgraded within the EU policy agenda. Thus, dynamism in the RTD sector is an issue that has been rather recently linked with European integration, while RTD has been a focal point of EU’s growth strategies, toward 2010, at first, and then toward 2020. The content of community policy has evolved within the framework of its main policy RTD tool, namely, the Framework Programmes (FPs), but at the same time, it remains quite limited to project funding, although research and technology may be considered to be a “more European” public good than it is actually today, according to a normative approach. The existing – restrictive for the EU – allocation of competences between the national and supranational level may be explained by member states’ stance. For the purposes of this chapter, emphasis is laid on national preferences and the conceptual framework of liberal intergovernmentalism. This particular theory is used in an alternative way, for the analysis of the evolution of a sectoral policy rather than for the examination of the European integration process and big, “historical” agreements. In this context, analysis is based on reasons and parameters that prevent EU member states from transferring (more) power to the EU, such as differences between policies, research systems, and preferences of the member states.