Brussels, 23/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - Almost all of the members of the European Research Area platform (ERA) have expressed concerns at the impact of the 'Juncker' investment plan on the financing of the framework research programme 'Horizon 2020'.
“Despite many calls made by some of the ERA stakeholders to the European Commission since last autumn, the proposed funding of the EFSI budget foresees substantial cuts to the Horizon 2020 budget. This will weaken Horizon 2020 rather than adding EFSI as a complementary tool to this programme”, stress the organisations CESAER, EARTO, EUA, LEUR and Science Europe, in a joint statement.
These interest groups are calling for research and development projects not to be forgotten when granting funding to projects supported by the 'Juncker' plan. Amongst other things, the European research players want to be involved in the governance structure of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which will be created under the aegis of the EIB, and in particular the body tasked with identifying projects of European interest to support. (MB)