Considering that European research infrastructures are in competition with those of the Community’s global partners which are and will be strongly investing in modern large-scale research infrastructures, and that these infrastructures are becoming increasingly complex and expensive, often placing them beyond the reach of a single Member State or even continent, it is now necessary to exploit and develop the full potential of Article 171 of the Treaty by establishing a framework containing the procedures and conditions for the setting-up and operation of European Research Infrastructures at Community level which are necessary for the eff ...[+++]icient execution of the Community’s RTD programmes.

The criterion proposed here is broader than that put forward in the Commission proposal, which rules out the law of the place of residence of the applicant or respondent alone (even though that law could, in principle, become applicable by virtue of the choice of court, pursuant to Article 20a(b)).

Unfortunately, there is only one bridge (Ruse-Giurgiu) over the 350-km river border between Bulgaria and Romania, which hinders contacts between citizens on either side of the Danube.

Unfortunately, there is only one bridge (Ruse-Giurgiu) over the 350-km river border between Bulgaria and Romania, which hinders contacts between citizens on either side of the Danube.

In addition, it seems justified to exclude patent rights from the scope of the proposed directive, as this will make it possible to avoid determining the content of future provisions in this regard and will restrict the scope of the directive in question to intellectual property only.

In particular, the Commission will examine under which circumstances INTERREG alone could fund entire projects which are partly located outside EU territory, such as bridges which span a border, and projects which do not involve investment in physical infrastructure, e.g. cultural exchanges with a border area in a candidate country.