Niki Tzavela, on behalf of the EFD Group. – Mr President, I would like to thank Ms Merkies for all her efforts and her coordination during the period in which this report was being negotiated among the political groups. I believe that she has done a very good job. I have three points to make.

I am happy to see that the rapporteur has taken on board the role of broadband. The digital world and information and communication technologies are engines of innovation, and high-speed broadband should be an essential precondition for all European innovation partnerships.

Secondly, in the run-up to the FP8, we should further strengthen the monitoring and ex-post evaluation of results of EU-funded research and innovation activities. Thus, we see that Ms Merkies has quite correctly included in her report a paragraph calling on the Commission to develop an integrated indicator system that would allow better monitoring and assessment of progress and the measurable impact of innovation policies and programmes in the EU.

In conclusion, a few days ago, the President of the European Council, Mr Van Rompuy, stated that Europeans are not innovative because they are depressed. That is, indeed, an innovative assumption, but I think it is a matter of character. We need to encourage a culture of learning, curiosity and risk-taking.