European integration, the European Research Area and European research infrastructures

Abstract

This chapter suggests that considering the limits of European integration by reference to legal frameworks is productive in terms of an appreciation of the scope of EU action. It considers research infrastructures and the European Research Area, with a specific focus on the relationship between the European Union and international intergovernmental organisations, particularly those members of the European Intergovernmental Research Organisations Forum. The chapter argues that the lack of attention to the separate, and distinct, legal framework in place for activities of the EU and of those of intergovernmental organisations in considering the European Research Area is consequential. The literature on European integration, the development and governance of European research policy and the specific development of particular large facilities is wide ranging and ever increasing. The European Intergovernmental Research Organisations’ Forum, the representative body of the large facilities, was established in 2002.