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Brussels, 22nd September 2006

At the invitation of the Finnish Presidency, Competition Commissioner Kroes will brief informally Ministers over lunch concerning preparations for the adoption of a new state aid framework for Research, Development and Innovation. This new framework was announced in the September 2005 Communication on State Aid for Innovation (see ) and forms part of the Commission’s new strategy to encourage Member States to focus state aid on projects liable to increase the competitiveness of the European economy, as laid out in the State Aid Action Plan (see and ). The Commission published a second draft of the state aid framework for Research, Development and Innovation for Member States and other interested parties to comment until 13th October. After receiving and analysing the comments, the Commission intends to adopt the new framework before the end of 2006. For further information see:

Item source: Date: 22/09/2006