Brussels, 20/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 July, the European Commission adopted a proposal for funding the construction of the fusion demonstration reactor ITER. This proposal responds to the conclusions of the Council of 12 July 2010 and aims to secure the financing of this international project as it goes forward. The Commission proposes redeployment of €100 million in 2012 and €360 million in 2013 from the 7th Framework Programme for Research. It is also proposing an initial transfer of unused funds of €400 million from other EU budgets to the budget financing ITER. A further such transfer will be specified later, with that process beginning in the context of the budgetary conciliation in November. The revision has been necessary because of substantial overall cost increases for ITER, which have more than doubled the costs for Europe from the initially expected € 2.7 billion.
In its conclusions of 12 July 2010, the Council underlined its strong commitment to the successful completion of ITER and endorsed the project's estimated financing needs. The Council mandated the Commission to adopt the baseline for the construction of ITER - schedule, scope and costs - based on an EU contribution, mostly in kind, of €6.6 billion from 2007-2020. The EU27 have recommended strong cost containment measures to deliver the necessary contribution within this lower budget, as opposed to the €7.2 billion originally estimated by Fusion for Energy (F4E) the EU agency managing the EU's role in the project. The Council also endorsed the specific additional financing needs of €1.4 billion for 2012-2013. The Commission proposes to cover this amount of €1.4 billion with unused funds from the EU budget and redeployment of €460 million from the 7th Framework Programme for Research. The European Parliament and the Council will now both have to agree on the proposal amending the current multiannual financial framework 2007-2013. In a press release, the Commission states it is now in a position to support “ad referendum” (subject to later agreement of the budgetary authority) the adoption of ITER Baseline at the extraordinary ITER Council meeting on 27-28 July in Cadarache. (O.L./transl.jl)