Governance and coordination at National and European levels

Sustained political ownership and commitment at all levels is needed for progress towards a functioning RI ecosystem. ESFRI fosters and implements this idea of ownership, taking full account of the principle of variable geometry¹⁴ 14. Variable geometry is a principle in regional integration whereby some community members can move faster than others on some matters. ESFRI has developed it to a key principle in its mandate and procedural guidelines since its creation in 2002 to allow groups of EU Member States and Associated Countries to independently pursue common RI initiatives of their interest.. Through the ESFRI roadmap process, national RI policy priorities are systematically considered at the European level. ESFRI thus provides long-term orientations for large investment decisions at national and European levels, while fully acknowledging that national RI systems have their own rules and priorities. In that sense, ESFRI represents a role model for lean governance, which has been proven efficient, effective, impactful and successful in its implementation. ESFRI RI roadmaps, including the ESFRI Landscape Analysis, have become important reference points for European and national decision-making processes. They clearly demonstrate that early communication between decision makers of the European countries on emerging RIs is crucial in order to reach the common European objectives consistently with national interests. It is particularly important for distributed infrastructures, strongly dependent on national roadmapping and financial commitments. ESFRI’s evaluation methodology has become an exemplar of good practice, inspiring many national procedures in and beyond Europe. As a next step, ESFRI has developed a Monitoring Approach, which will support the internal governance of the RIs, help create a philosophy of self-assessment and help define their role in the European research landscape. This methodology is fully in line with the EU Council conclusions of May 2018¹⁵ 15. Conclusions of the Council of the European Union of 29 May 2018 on Accelerating knowledge circulation in the EU. Doc 9507/18
http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9507-2018-INIT/en/pdf encouraging Member States to develop a common approach to monitoring RI performance.