> hi hans
>
> could you tell us your reasons for withdrawing your support?
>
> we are all pioneers on this cyber-frontier
> which seems to entice with the promise
> of 'instant' communication
>
> is there anything here that we can learn from?
>
> janet
>
> janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada
> [log in to unmask]



        Hi Janet and others members,

Here Benedicte, french member of our european group. We have some
differents points
of view in the way to drive the action toward the European Parliament
with Hans.
But we continue and have already some results. Below two responses of
members of
the European Committee among many others:

Content-Identifier: Fifth Framework
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 13:52:30 +0100
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Fifth Framework programme. Medical research 1998-2002
Content-Disposition: inline

Dear Madam Ana Mari,
  Thank you for your fax and email concerning research in the field
of
Parkinson disease. Further to all the disussions with your group and
others
interested in this very important field, I am pleased to inform you
that
research on Parkinson disease will have HIGH priority within the
fifth
framework programme. We hope that the first call for applications
will be in
early next year(Feb) and the closing date in April.

Best regards

S.S.Baig .
Principal Scientist European Commisson
Brusssels

-----------

From: "Stephen P. Gosden
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: parkinson

Dear Ana Mari,

Thanks for your enquiry regarding the Fifth Framework Programme. I
will answer
your question in a moment, but should perhaps first point out that I
work at the
European Commission, not the European Parliament. If your wish is to
bring this
to the attention of the Parliament, too, may I suggest you write to
the Chairman
of the EP Research Committee


To return to your question, one of the six "key actions" of the first
thematic
programme under the Fifth FP is entitled "The Ageing Population". I
quote below
from the Commission's proposal:

"The overriding goal of this key action is to promote quality of life
and
healthy ageing and independence in old age by preventing and treating
age-related diseases and disability, and their societal consequences.
A
complementary objective will be to reduce the need for long-term care
and limit
the constantly increasing costs of health-care systems.

[First topic] RTD into age-related illnesses and health problems with
high
morbidity where there is a real prospect of significant prevention,
treatment or
delay in onset.

RTD priorities: studies on major age-related diseases (e.g.
Parkinson_s and
Alzheimer_s diseases); physiology and pathophysiology of ageing and
disability;
co-morbidity studies." (NB: there are other RTD topics and priorities
under this
key action; this is simply the first in the list.)

This key action was allocated 7.6% of the proposed budget, but, now
that the
approved budget is lower than the one we proposed, there may need to
be some
adjustment. To give you an idea, however, 7.6% of the approved budget
for this
thematic programme would amount to about 183 million euros. How much
of the 7.6%
would be for Parkinson's disease I don't think anyone can say at this
juncture.
The EP will be debating its report on the Commission's proposals this
week, and
the Council of Ministers will adopt amended versions shortly
thereafter - some
in December, we expect, and the rest in January. At that point the
budget for
each key action will be clear.

You draw a parallel with the USA, but you must remember that most
publicly-funded research in Europe is carried out by the Member
States at a
national level, whereas in the USA it is centralised in the NIH etc.
The
Commission accounts for only about 4% of publicly-funded research in
Europe. To
compare properly the funds devoted to PD research in Europe with
those in the
US, you must find out how much each Member State is spending in
national
programmes and add that to the EC contribution.

I hope this helps to answer your queries, and to reassure you that
tackling this
terrible disease has an important place in the European Union's
priorities.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Gosden
European Commission


We hope to have still your support


Benedicte Boutet
[log in to unmask]

on behalf with Dietmar Wessel Germany
                     Jeremy Browne England
                     Ana Mari Del Arco Spain
                     Martine Semal Belgium