continuing to emphasize the predominance of 

 nation-nation arrangements, while the transfer of 

 strategic planning and coordinating authority flows to 

 Brussels, might appear overly cautious. Yet the pace of 

 change and the final parameters of the S&T structure in 

 Europe are far from established; likewise, the responses 

 of non-EC countries in realigning S&T relations and 

 cooperative activities must be measured and in keeping 

 with the pragmatic realities in Europe. However, 

 long-range analysis points to a collective strengthening 

 of European S&T capabilities, increasingly targeted and 

 led by EC Commission policies and research programs, 

 in close coordination with EC national governments and 

 relying on their resources, manpower and facilities. 



As U.S. policymakers begin to define U.S. interests in 

 pursuing a formal relationship with the European 

 Community, there are a number of salient points relating 

 to EC integration and US-EC relations which should be 

 kept in mind. Taken together, they argue for U.S. 

 recognition of the growing importance of 

 Community-level funding, coordination and strategic 

 planning for research and infrastructure support, while 

 highlighting the need to maintain for the foreseeable 

 future a strong pattern of bilateral cooperation with the 

 individual member states. 



• The European Community, under the provisions of 

 the Single European Act, has a principal 

 responsibility for stimulating multilateral S&T 

 cooperation among the member states, with the aim 

 of strengthening the scientific and technological 

 basis of European industry; 



• Wide variations still exist among EC member 

 countries with regard to R&D investments, quality 

 and distribution of resources, shares of public and 

 private sector funding, and government S&T 

 policies; 



• S&T resource levels, information flows and 

 professional mobility all remain below normative 

 pattems in the U.S., despite significant 

 improvements in all these areas in the last half 

 decade, indicating an S&T base not yet as strong, 

 deep or integrated as that of the U.S.; 



• Basic research budgets in the major EC countries 

 are relatively stable or rising only slightly; any 

 significant increases in public funding appear 

 targeted to development of technology with 

 commercial potential. 



• The U.S. remains (almost universally in the 

 perceptions of European researchers) a very 

 desirable location for study and research, and 

 European S&T administrators believe that U.S. 



visits by European researchers will remain high in 

 number over the next decade; these administrators, 

 however, are establishing programs to make 

 inter-European exchange visits more attractive and 

 likely alternatives; 



• The major emphasis in international scientific 

 exchange for the larger countries of Europe still 

 rests on bilateral programs, and relations with the 

 U.S. continue to be a top priority. 



• The declining pool of European researchers and 

 science and engineering students, combined with 

 increasing competition for S&T personnel and 

 emphasis on intra-European mobility, could lead to 

 some decline in the numbers of students and 

 possibly of researchers visiting the U.S.; 



• Continued internal EC stalemate over S&T funding 

 levels and Commission autonomy in R&D program 

 management could slow the integrative process, 

 making reliable scenarios for U.S.-EC relations 

 difficult to project. 



• Although several principal S&T-performing 

 member states are ambivalent about formal 

 U.S.-EC relations, the integrative momentum 

 favors a growing and substantial international, as 

 well as a multilateral, role for the EC Commission 

 in European S&T. This situation imparts a problem 

 for the U.S. of timing, balance and compre- 

 hensiveness in developing an official relationship 

 with the EC. 



• The rapidly growing EC focus on Eastern Europe 

 has resulted in substantial policy attention and 

 bureaucratic resources for external cooperation 

 being turned to that region, creating opportunities 

 for joint U.S.-EC S&T cooperative assistance 

 projects. 



With a view toward verifying these observations and 

 putting them into the context of current American S&T 

 relations with, and future interests in, Europe, the report 

 will examine: 



• European Community-funded S&T programs, 

 policies, and capabilities 



• policies, programmatic emphases and capabilities 

 of key member states 



• the EC-member state interface: the economic, 

 political and S&T matrix 



• the expanding reach of the EC in international S&T 



• challenges of European integration for 

 US-European cooperation 



• concerns, issues and assessments regarding US-EC 

 cooperative relations 



IV 



