Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (BUDG) reiterated their commitment to securing additional funding for the EU’s flagship programmes, in particular the Horizon Europe research programme, before acting President of the European Research Council (ERC) Jean-Pierre Bourguignon on Tuesday 22 September.
Last July, EU leaders’ negotiations on the Recovery Plan and the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 ended with major cuts in the promised budget for research and innovation (R&I): the Commission’s initial proposal – itself already below Parliament’s expectations – was cut by €13.5 billion (see EUROPE 12532/6).
“I, and so many in the scientific community and beyond, were shocked to learn of these cuts that will deprive us of having the means to make our full contribution, when it is essential”, Mr Bourguignon told MEPs.
For R&I funding, he insisted, will be needed in particular to: – enable the EU to tackle the current health crisis and improve its resilience, but also to reduce its CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030, as the Commission has committed itself to do; – enable European companies and researchers to operate on the same scale as their American and Chinese counterparts; – achieve technological sovereignty, particularly in the use of industrial data and artificial intelligence.
“If Europe wants to be establish more balanced partnerships, then it cannot rely only on technologies developed by others”, he stressed, adding that MEPs supported these points.
Decrease in private investment
European funds currently account for only about 20% of project funding available in Europe, according to ERC data, and the private sector contributes on average two-thirds of all research expenditure.
“With the ongoing health and economic crisis, many worry this investment may decrease, forcing the public sector to step up its efforts to avoid a crash”, Mr Bourguignon noted.
Considering the urgency of the situation, he called on EU leaders to agree, in the coming weeks, on “an MFF consistent with the ambitious political goals they have proposed”.
To “make the goals credible”, the Horizon Europe budget must be increased to €120 billion, he added.
Reacting to this intervention, José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, Portugal) said it was proof of the legitimacy of Parliament’s demands. He also regretted that the EU Council set itself objectives without giving itself the means to achieve them.
A progress report on the interinstitutional negotiations on the budget was presented to the General Affairs Council on Tuesday: however, no solution seems to have been found yet to Parliament’s requests for additional appropriations (see EUROPE 12565/10). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)