In a statement at a press conference on Open Access to Scientific Information in Brussels, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission and responsible for the Digital Agenda, announced the "open access to EU-funded research for all".

"Doing this is a matter of principle. You paid for this research – you should have access to the results." according to Neelie Kroes. 

The European Commisioner believes open access to scientific information will lead to better and faster research results, as researchers build on each others ideas in stead of "locking up information that is critical for innovators and entrepreneurs."

Although making research results publicly available may indeed benefit  companies and researchers that can’t afford scientific journals, it also seems to limit the potential income of the authors of such works, by essentially annihilating their copyrights. 

Ms. Kroes says she is fully aware of this balance and explained in her speech how she addresses these concerns:

"For publications, our proposal means that researchers can choose to provide open access in two ways:

First, by paying publication costs upfront to the publisher and making the articles immediately accessible – known as 'Gold' Open Access.

Second, by putting their articles into open access repositories online. Publishers sometime impose "embargo periods", that is: delays before such self-deposited articles can become openly accessible. Our policy means that delays of up to 6 months are acceptable for all subjects, with an except for social sciences and humanities who may delay by 12 months. This is known as green open access."

"And let's look at scientific data too," Kroes continued her speech, "We can do a great deal by utilising raw research data in new ways. For example, Alzheimers’ researchers recently pooled genetic data and discovered five new genes and important evidence about the disease. That is what happens when researchers from different research fields and regions can cross-check and combine data sets.

Therefore we will start implementing a strong open access policy for data as well, excluding, however, projects for which this would raise legitimate privacy or commercial concerns."

Source:  Neelie Kroes, Speech/12/560, dated July 17, 2012