Brussels, 22/06/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European Universities Association (EUA) and the League of European Research Universities (LERU) have welcomed the draft report defining the eligibility rules for participation in the framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon 2020, which will run from 2014 to 2020. The draft report was presented at the European Parliament (EP) industry, research and energy committee (ITER) on Tuesday 19 June.
After being critical on several points in the European Commission's proposal (see EUROPE 10613), the EUA says in a press release on Thursday 21 June that the EP draft report “acknowledges the needs of the different beneficiaries and particularly welcomes the introduction of the possibility for beneficiaries to claim reimbursement on the basis of real costs”.
The draft report was prepared by MEP Christian Ehler (EPP, Germany) and is expected to be put to the vote in the autumn. The amendments it brings to the Commission proposal relate principally to how costs are calculated. The aim is twofold: to simplify rules for reimbursing direct and indirect costs and to accept the research institutes' and universities' own methods of accounting.
The LERU, however, is critical of the amendments proposed by Ehler on the single reimbursement rate. The Commission took the view that simplification of procedures for participation should mean a flat reimbursement rate. In his draft report, however, Ehler says this will be damaging to diversification of projects. LERU backs the Commission position and says in a press release published on Friday 22 June that “it is however also clear that having different rates for different partners will, again, result in more complexity and less simplification (compared to the Commission's proposal)”. (JK/transl.rt)