The European Parliament, meeting in plenary session, adopted on Wednesday 17 April the agreement reached with the EU Council on the post-2020 Horizon Europe research framework programme.
MEPs approved by a very large majority both the provisional agreement on the future Horizon Europe framework programme (see EUROPE 12218/15) (578 votes in favour, 40 against and 41 abstentions) and the proposal for a specific programme implementing Horizon Europe (590 votes in favour, 42 against and 25 abstentions).
While welcoming the outcome of the votes, the two rapporteurs, Dan Nica (S&D, Romania) and Christian Ehler (EPP, Germany), each stressed the need for sufficient funding for this programme in the context of the next EU budget currently under negotiation.
“If we want to compete with the USA and Asia in the future [...] it is time to put the money on the table”, Ehler said.
“It will be up to the next Parliament and Council to agree on the final budget of this programme. It is important that they keep the level of ambition that we have requested: €120 billion”, Mr Nica insisted.
Such a position is shared by the organisation Science Europe, which, in its press release, welcomed the results of the parliamentary vote, while expressing concern about the potential lack of financial resources. It recommends that Member States provide the research programme with “at least €120 billion”.
Both texts have yet to be formally adopted by the EU Council.
Consult the reports: https://bit.ly/2XiHo0e and https://bit.ly/2UkLrHC (Damien Genicot - intern)