The European Parliament and the Council of the EU finally managed to reach a provisional agreement on the Regulation establishing the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, following a long negotiating session, which ended in the middle of the night on Wednesday 20 March.
They introduced many changes, in particular on the way in which the accelerator of the European Innovation Council (EIC) is financed, the principle of widening participation in the projects financed and the likely abandonment of the dual legal basis of the specific implementation programme.
These three topics were of great importance to the co-legislators during the last meeting. The European Parliament said it was ready to accept the abandonment of the double legal basis on the specific programme requested by the Member States (see EUROPE 12106/1) and, therefore, to give up its right to have its say, in exchange for several counterparts.
Double legal basis
In return, the Parliament obtained the integration of important elements of the specific programme into the framework programme, in particular an annex drafted by the Council of the EU, which specifies the areas of missions and partnerships, as well as their revision in 2025. In addition, the Parliament has managed to be involved in the preparatory phase of strategic planning.
Ambassadors will have to launch a written procedure on the issue of the dual legal basis at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives I (Coreper I) on 27 March. Inter-institutional dialogue will be initiated to clarify the issue.
On the Parliamentary side, some consider that the question of the dual legal basis should not be definitively closed until the full content of the future regulation is known, a source tells us. This would raise the question of the legal basis at the end of the year.
Widening
The other major point discussed at the meeting was the principle of widening participation in the programme to the 13 countries that have more recently joined the EU. The question of a rebalancing of researchers' remuneration for the latter Member States, as proposed by the European Parliament, was not retained.
The Council of the EU considers that the issue of wages is a matter of national competence. On the other hand, 3.3% of the total budget of the programme will be devoted to widening participation in funded projects. A diplomatic source recalls that the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU had a mandate of 3% on this point.
European Innovation Council
Concerning the European Innovation Council (EIC), the debate focused on the method of financing this new body and, in particular, on the question of grant only funding in the "accelerator" programme, which aims to cross the "valley of death" between research results and their commercialisation. Finally, the initial approach in favour of blended finance was maintained, but with a share of grants in line with the current framework programme. However, where the Parliament wanted this continuity to be included in the body of the Regulation, it has been included in the recitals, which is ultimately less legally binding.
Missions and partnerships
On the tasks of this new instrument introduced by the European Commission, which aims to better define the actions financed by Horizon Europe, the Parliament has succeeded in imposing a capping of 10% of the annual budget of Pillar II, dedicated to global challenges, during the first three years. The objective is to control the costs incurred by this new instrument while it is being "woven in", explains one source.
Regarding partnerships, at the Council's request, a "soft capping" has been introduced for collaborative projects: the majority of the partnership budget in Pillar II should be allocated to collaborative projects. In a way, this is the opposite of the Parliament's logic, which proposes a "hard capping" for missions.
Climate
In general, the climate change adaptation dimension has been strengthened, according to one source: about 35% of the total budget will have to be devoted to the climate challenge. In the article dedicated to the objectives, COP 21 and the UN sustainable development objectives are explicitly mentioned. As for the ex-post evaluation, it will now have to take explicit account of the climate dimension.
Clusters
In addition, the co-legislators agreed on a cross-sectoral cluster approach. Here, the Council of the EU wanted to divide the "climate, energy and mobility" cluster into individual clusters. The 'fast track' procedure for awarding grants quickly to small consortia has been maintained in Pillar II, with a maximum duration of 6 months (for a maximum amount of €2.5 million).
Member States should support the provisional agreement at the Coreper meeting on 27 March. Parliamentarians are expected to take a position at the meeting of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) on 25 March. The text is expected to be put to a vote at the first plenary session in April, probably on 2 April. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)