EU-Council: EU agreement on future research and innovation programme
Member states’ ambassadors meeting in the Council’s permanent representatives’ committee on 28th March confirmed the common understanding reached between the Romanian presidency of the Council and the European Parliament, as part of an overall compromise on the Horizon Europe package, on the majority of the operative provisions of Horizon Europe, the next EU framework programme on research and innovation for the years 2021 to 2027.
Previously, on the 20 March a meeting to negotiate the 9th R&D programme legislative proposals, Horizon Europe, among the European Parliament (EP), the Council and the Commission (EC) took place in the form of tripartite meetings (‘trilogues’).
The research Commissioner, Carlos Moedas, the two Members of the Parliament (MEP) and Horizon Europe rapporteurs, Dan Nica and Christian Ehler, the Council’s presidency, currently held by Romania, participated.
The EC needs time to draw up plans for its implementation and recruit members to the various boards that help assess funding applications; to do that, clarity from legislators about what will be in the Programme was needed.
Horizon Europe that will run from 2021 to 2027, starts as soon as Horizon 2020, the current research programme, winds up at the end of next year thus reducing the risk of an interruption in research funding in 2021.
Issues to be negotiated:
- An agreement on Horizon Europe budget: EC has proposed a budget of €94.1 billion, while the EP wants €120 billion.
- Involvement of non-EU countries.
- How best to promote both excellence and widening, to support Europe’s finest researchers at the same time as improving research infrastructure across all member states.
The next steps includes the vote on the European parliament in April.
Source: EU Council
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In: CLEPA News, Growth & Competitiveness, Research & Innovation