Brussels, 07/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - Since mid-April, inter-institutional talks on the future framework programme for research and innovation (Horizon 2020) have entered the homestretch. That finishing straight, however, is fraught with pitfalls. The Irish Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers hopes to conclude the dossier by the end of June. To this end, it has gathered together what it calls the “critical issues” under three headings, which cut across the framework programme, the rules of participation and the specific programme. Those three headings must therefore be tackled at the same time and significant concessions will have to be made by all parties concerned, Dublin warns.
The architecture of “Horizon 2020”. Compared to the European Commission's initial proposal, the European Parliament has included a new objective entitled “spreading excellence and widening participation” in the first pillar (scientific excellence), and a separate “science with and for society: a cross-cutting challenge” under the third pillar (social challenges). Some states now show a certain amount of flexibility on this issue but the Commission has, from the outset, warned against such a change that will have an impact on budgetary redistribution. Negotiations on this point are likely to be linked to the changes made by the Council on rules of participation and the introduction “in extremis” of a new “direct eligible personnel cost”, which provides the option of supplementary payments covered as eligible direct costs for up to €8,000 per year per person full-time.
New objectives, new activities. The Council seems ill-inclined to follow the Parliament on the proposal for creating an instrument dedicated to SMEs (single management structure with a budgetary reserve of 4%). It may nonetheless allow certain elements of this idea to be kept in place, such as a bottom-up approach for proposals outside specific thematic areas.
Attempts by MEPs to have the budgetary share increased and to introduce fixed thresholds for budget allocation for research and innovation in the energy sector also seem doomed to failure. The Council is showing itself to be inflexible on these two proposals, the second of which earmarks 75% of the budget for renewable energy, end-user energy efficiency, smart grids and energy storage, and a further 15% for the market uptake of energy innovation.
Generally speaking, member states no longer want to play the game of structuring the framework programme. The Parliament is said, however, to have wanted to add several activity lines, especially in the fields of marine research, cultural heritage and inclusive societies (17 new activity lines). The Council's position on this issue has the merit of being simple, saying that no new activity line will be created even if the content of certain lines can be added to the existing lines.
Rules of participation and fast-track. From the start of the negotiations (see EUROPE 10806), the Council has warned that there will be no accommodation possible on the rules of participation and the question of reimbursing indirect costs, as sketched out by member states during the Council in October 2012. Discussions will, however, tackle these points during coming meetings. The Irish Presidency states it will not budge on this, whereas the Parliament continues to want to gain a number of concessions.
No matter how hard MEPs have tried to explain the value of their “fast-track to innovation” concept, the Council remains doubtful. It is out of the question to create a new instrument in “Horizon 2020”, even though the core of this concept - namely a bottom-up approach for subsidy proposals - could be introduced elsewhere. (JK/transl.jl)