They urge investment in education and programmes that promote (social) entrepreneurship amongst young people so as to develop their transversal skills and qualities, such as initiative, confidence, calculated risk-taking, creativity, organisation and tenacity.

8. Considers that the EU should create better conditions for the implementation of nutrition programmes such as School Fruit and School Milk in the Member States, as well as better support for education and awareness-raising about the origin of products and nutrition, given that informed choices about diet can prevent disease and reduce the heavy strain on social spending in Europe; also calls for more dietary support programmes, which should have a reduced administrative burden, and for the budget for those programmes to be increased; invites the Commission to assess the practicalities of these programmes;

8. Considers that the EU should create better conditions for the implementation of nutrition programmes such as School Fruit and School Milk in the Member States, as well as better support for education and awareness-raising about the origin of products and nutrition, given that informed choices about diet can prevent disease and reduce the heavy strain on social spending in Europe; also calls for more dietary support programmes, which should have a reduced administrative burden, and for the budget for those programmes to be increased; invites the Commission to assess the practicalities of these programmes.

52. Remains concerned that previous innovation and competitiveness programmes have failed to deliver the necessary link between fundamental and applied research and industrial innovation partly due to the fact that the financial resources were rather limited; believes that the support of the European public is indispensable for realising the Lisbon goals; considers that the Commission should propose a simplification of its financial procedures with a view to facilitating the implementation of research policy; considers that financi ...[+++]al instruments need to be rethought in a more fine-tuned, targeted way and that the establishment of an ambitious programme for competitiveness and innovation endowed with adequate financial resources is vital for supporting a "prosperity" oriented industrial policy, notably for SMEs, that would successfully capitalise on research through industrial applications, such as technology transfer from universities and research centres into industrial application; considers that further steps should be taken to foster development of the information society as proposed by the Commission, developing and promoting international standards for ICT and mobile telecommunication technology, monitoring the implementation of the electronic communications legislative framework, supporting EU benchmarking activities in the field of eEurope action plan initiatives and further enhancing EU security research; regards such a programme as essential in order to achieve the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy in the sphere of new technologies and ecotechnologies; considers that adequate funding must be secured through the 7th EU Research Programme (FP7) and the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) for the EU Action Plan for Environmental Technologies (ETAP); calls for adequate funding for the support of innovative SMEs and initiatives aimed at helping the commercialisation of research and the transfer of technology, notably through the Euro ...

For example, one possible way would be to align national licensing systems by adopting the principle of a global authorisation that would apply to intergovernmental programmes and industrial cooperation programmes.

The PHARE programme can also be used to finance environmental, transport, agricultural and rural development measures which form an indispensable part of industrial reconstruction or regional development programmes.