The biggest socio-economic research effort ever

Commission presents EUR 81 million socio-economic research networks to address major European challenges. "People today face a very different range of pressures to those encountered by previous generations", said European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin. "If we are to develop effective solutions to the problems that affect society in 21st century Europe, we need accurate information about the underlying causes. Armed with this knowledge, we are better equipped to tackle the issues that affect European society today." Past and current EU research in these fields has already provided important information for policy makers. For instance, at the EU level, socio-economic research feeds into the design of major EU policy initiatives such as the "White Paper on Governance", the "Social Exclusion Plan", the Communication on the Role of Universities and, more recently, to help the future formulation of the Commission Position Paper on "Formal and Informal Work". The Commission will keep fostering socio-economic research. A key part of building the European Research Area in this field is the creation of 'infrastructures' available to all researchers. A new initiative in this field is the European Social Survey, a joint collaborative research effort between 23 national funding bodies, the European Science Foundation and the European Commission.