The French government has sent the formal request to join EMSO as a full member, committing for a period of 5 years following the establishment of the ERIC.
The letter was signed by Roger Genet, General Director of the Ministere de l’Education Nationale, l’Inseignement Superieur et de la Recherce, who requested the Italian Minister of Education, Mrs Stefania Giannini, to ask the European Commission to set up the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water-column Observatory as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium.
This brings the number of full member countries of EMSO to four: Italy, Greece, UK and France.