Two of the proposal's themes, No 1 on discovering living resources and the ecosystem and the third theme on favouring competitive and sustainable growth are good examples.

Mr President, I wish to focus on the section in the framework programme covered by Mr Argyros, which deals with competitive and sustainable growth.

I also have a point on the Argyros report on competitive and sustainable growth. I have tabled an amendment on reducing the environmental impact of air traffic.

The essential difference therefore concerns this additional 2 billion which this Parliament wishes to allocate to the four research themes, namely the quality of the existing and user-friendly information society, competitive and sustainable growth, energy and the environment.

The specific programme 'Competitive and sustainable growth', provided unfortunately with only EUR 2.7 billion, is made up of the most significant priorities for the European Union. It is therefore of fundamental importance for a successful implementation of the fifth framework research programme as a whole.

In this context, it is also gratifying to note that provision has been made for this type of venture in the fifth EU framework programme of research under the broad line of action 'promoting competitive and sustainable growth' and particularly the specific programmes under the heading of 'prospects for aviation'.