On Tuesday 21 July, almost 2 months after their last meeting (see EUROPE 12496/6), the EU Research Ministers will hold an informal meeting via videoconference, organised by the German EU Council Presidency.
The exchange, which will be held in the presence of the Commissioner for Innovation and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, will focus on the role that research and innovation should play in the “social, economic and ecological transformation” of the EU, says the German Presidency in a note.
Topics on the agenda include preparing for better management and prevention of future crises, supporting participatory science and improving the European Research Area (ERA).
A plan to “relaunch and revitalise” this concept is being developed by the European Commission (see EUROPE 12418/5) and should be unveiled by the end of the year.
‘Green hydrogen’. Discussions are also expected to focus on renewable hydrogen, or ‘green hydrogen’ – which has been in the news in recent days with the publication by the Commission of its hydrogen strategy (see EUROPE 12523/1, 12525/23).
Germany presented the development of ‘green hydrogen’ technologies as one of the matters of priority of its Presidency. In particular, Berlin intends “[to advance] the area of hydrogen technologies and systems under the umbrella of an important project of common European interest (IPCEI)” says a document detailing German priorities for the sector.
Roadmap. A policy debate on current issues in European research and innovation policy is also planned.
The trio of Presidents consisting of Germany, Portugal and Slovenia also plans to present a joint roadmap for the next 18 months.
Pared budget. The question of the budget could finally be addressed: the difficult negotiations that have been going on since Friday between European leaders on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the post-Covid-19 recovery plan have not been very favourable to the sector.
Last May, the Commission proposed that €94.4 billion be allocated over 7 years to the Horizon Europe programme (see EUROPE 12494/1), of which €80.9 billion under the MFF and €13.5 billion under the Next Generation EU recovery plan.
In the negotiating box tabled on 10 July by the President of the Council, Charles Michel (see EUROPE 12525/1), the MFF had however been cut by €20 billion, €5 billion of which were taken from the Horizon Europe budget.
“Cutting as usual at the expense of new policies is a shame. Especially when we see how the younger generation is bearing the brunt of the epidemic”, a European diplomatic source regretted at the time.
In the negotiating box dated 18 July, €2 billion were again taken out of this budget: this time it was taken from the portion allocated via the Next Generation EU recovery instrument (see EUROPE 12531/1). On Monday evening, the proposal put forward by M. Michel after a fourth day of negotiations included a new cut of €6.5 billion, in the same place: of the €13.5 billion initially proposed, only €5 billion remain. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)