Eleven Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) wrote on Tuesday 4 August to the European Commissioner for Youth and Innovation, Mariya Gabriel, and the German Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, to ensure that research and innovation are given their rightful place in the national recovery plans.
Concerned “about the future of innovation and science in the EU”, they call for investment in research and innovation (R&I) to be encouraged at European level, particularly in the context of drawing up national recovery plans which will enable Member States to benefit from the Next Generation EU instrument.
The signatories - from S&D, Renew Europe and the EPP - currently believe that the EU is “under-investing” in R&I. This under-investment could be accentuated by the announced budget cuts.
The negotiations that led to an agreement between European leaders on 21 July on the Recovery Plan and the future Multiannual Financial Framework (see EUROPE 12532/2) have, in fact, resulted in major cuts for the sector (see EUROPE 12532/6).
The EU27 opted to allocate 80.9 billion euros to the Horizon Europe research programme (including 5 billion euros under Next Generation EU), well below the amount proposed by the Commission (94.4 billion euros, including 13.5 billion euros under Next Generation EU) and “only to roughly two thirds of the research and innovation funding that was called for by the European Parliament”, MEPs regret in their letter.
Fears. They also recall that the Member States’ commitment to invest 3% of GDP in this sector has never been honoured. “In 2018, spending on R&I in the EU was still barely 2% of GDP […] while China spent 2.2% and the US 2.8% of their GDP”, say MEPs.
They fear that such a lack of investment puts the EU at a disadvantage on the world stage and has a negative impact on its long-term competitiveness.
Moreover, they fear that without “substantial investment and strengthened scientific cooperation”, the objectives of the Green Deal and the digital transition will not be achieved and that the exit from the crisis will be even more difficult. The European ministers had themselves recognised that R&I would be a key sector for the recovery that was initiated (see EUROPE 12496/6).
“Covid-19 has also shown that there is a need to strengthen European technological sovereignty”, say MEPs. Commissioner Gabriel has been making this observation for several months now.
Recalling that Parliament will not accept the political agreement as it stands (see EUROPE 12533/1), the signatories finally assure that a commitment by the States to put the emphasis on R&I in the recovery plans they will present “would facilitate reaching an agreement between the co-legislators” on the MFF 2021-2027.
To consult the letter: https://bit.ly/2XrG2mb (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)