As part of the EU Presidency, held by Spain for the first half of 2010, the country's science minister appeared before the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) of the European Parliament in Brussels, where she set out her department's top priorities.

Garmendia said the Spanish Presidency of the EU would work to ensure that R&D initiatives in Europe are better able to respond to major challenges such as new energy sources, climate change, health, ageing, and particularly economic recovery and growth.

By doing this, Spain will clearly promote “the role of science in dealing with our most visible challenges and daily concerns, and in economic recovery and growth”.

“Without more science and more innovation - and above all the necessary interaction between them - Europe will not be able to maintain its current leadership, much less aspire to improving its position in the international arena”, Garmendia pointed out.

The predictions show that “if we don't act on this, most of the world's science output by 2025 will come from countries different to those currently considered as world leaders, many of which are European”; “with just two countries, China and India, accounting for roughly 20% of the world's R&D, which is twice their current share”.

The three core areas that Garmendia's department will work on during Spain's Presidency of the EU are: integration, to progress the creation of the European Research Area (ERA); involvement, to provide answers to the biggest challenges facing society; and inclusion, to ensure that science tackles poverty and social exclusion.

Specific science and innovation areas in Europe will be improved, such as research mobility, management of the European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures and simplification of the rules for taking part in the Framework Programmes for Research.

In terms of the European Research Area, the minister expressed her wish for this to operate as a single, integrated space, and to be given institutional importance that will not involve setting up any new bureaucratic structures, but will rather introduce mechanisms to help align the priorities of the member states and avoid duplication of effort.