On Friday 30 November, European ministers are invited by the Austrian Presidency of the Council to adopt a partial political agreement (or partial general approach) on the framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe. But the political issues separating the agreement are still overwhelming.
The Framework Programme will be the high point of this Council. Intensive negotiations at technical level were held in the Council from June to November 2018, but they failed to reach a consensus on several points in the European Commission's proposal.
The division of the cluster dedicated to inclusive society and security into two thematic clusters within Pillar II "Global Issues and Industrial Competitiveness" would not be unanimously supported, particularly by Estonia, Greece, Finland, Ireland and Sweden.
Another point of dispute: France, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Portugal have not won their case for the creation of a pole dedicated to space or, at least, to isolate a specific budget line.
The Austrian Presidency has introduced an action to encourage and financially support researchers to return to their home country, a proposal supported by Central, Eastern and Southern Europe, but less so among Western European Member States.
Concerning the European Innovation Council - a new feature introduced by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12036) - the Presidency is putting on the negotiating table the possibility of benefiting from subsidies only, in addition to mixed financial instruments. The part dedicated to subsidies remains to be decided. Germany, Denmark, Greece, France, Latvia, Poland have taken a position in favour of a limitation, unlike the Czech Republic, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The limitation in the budget part dedicated to European partnerships will be debated. Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and others would not be particularly enthusiastic.
For its part, the European Commission has expressed reservations about the new layout of Pillar II, the EIC and the limitation of European partnerships.
As for the specific implementation programme, a progress report will be made by the Presidency (see EUROPE 12106).
A round of general guidelines
Other emblematic files will be included on the Council's agenda for approval. On Thursday 29 November, ministers will adopt the regulation establishing the programme for the single market. Here, Member States have introduced the mention of areas related to plants, animals and food.
They detailed the implementation and governance of the programme and specified its objectives, in particular for support to the tourism sector and SMEs. The eligibility procedures have also been specified. This is a partial general orientation, since the budget does not fall under this training. In addition, Member States will decide on their position on the Regulation on general vehicle safety (see EUROPE 12137).
The space programme will also be on the table for a general orientation on the regulation on unfair practices in platform-to-business relations (P2B), which had been analysed in our pages (see EUROPE 12135).
A progress report should be made on the space program. New conclusions on the future of the industrial strategy at European level should also be adopted. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)