... This paper describes the motivation for the EGEE (Enabling Grids for e-Science in Europe) proposal recently made to the EU and the background activity behind this initiative . ... This software is now the basis of the current CERN Large Hadron Collider Grid Project first production infrastructure, the facility that is being setup for the analysis of data that will be produced by the new CERN accelerator (LHC). ... As a rule, new communities will contribute new resources to the Grid infrastructure. ...