PURPOSE: to renew the Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation between the European Community and Ukraine for an additional five years.
PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.
CONTENT: the Agreement on cooperation in science and technology between the European Community and Ukraine was signed in Copenhagen on 4 July 2002 and entered into force on 11 February 2003. Article 12 (b) of the Agreement provides as follows: "This Agreement shall be concluded for an initial period ending on 31 December 2002 and will be renewable by common agreement between the Parties for additional periods of five years".
By Council Decision 2003/737/EC, the Agreement was renewed for a further period of five years which entered into force on 8 November, 2004. The Agreement is due to expire on 7 November, 2009.
Given that it is in the interest of the Community to renew this Agreement in order to continue to facilitate cooperation with Ukraine in common science and technological priority, it is proposed to approve the renewal of the Agreement under the same conditions as the last agreement.
The material content of the renewed Agreement will be identical to the material content of the current Agreement.
In the light of the above considerations, the Commission requests the Council to approve, on behalf of the Community, after consulting the European Parliament, the renewal of the Agreement and expresses the consent of the Community to be bound by the Agreement's provisions.