EU research ministers will meet by videoconference on Friday 27 November for the first time since the European Commission presented its communication on the future of the European Research Area (ERA – see EUROPE 12571/9) at the end of September.
This new meeting will therefore primarily provide an opportunity for an informal exchange of views on the research and innovation (R&I) investment targets proposed in this Communication.
First of all, the Commission invited Member States to reaffirm the objective of an overall investment of at least 3% of the Union's GDP on R&I. If the EU wants to reach this goal in the next decade, it will need to invest an additional €110 billion per year.
The European institution would also like the EU27 to agree on a new target for the public effort – namely 1.25% of EU GDP to be reached by 2030 by each State – and to commit on a voluntary basis to devote 5% of national public funding for R&I to joint programmes and European partnerships by 2030.
Finally, States where the ratio of R&I expenditure to GDP is below the EU average are invited to increase their total investment in R&I by 50% within 5 years.
The ministers will be asked to indicate how these new objectives could “support [their] national ambitions for R&I reforms”, according to a note from the German EU Council Presidency. They will also detail their expectations of the support that the European Commission could provide in their efforts to achieve these objectives.
Concerning the overall development of the ERA and its priorities, draft conclusions are currently being prepared in the EU Council preparatory bodies. A first draft of this document was presented in September by Berlin (see EUROPE 12554/5). The final version should be adopted by written procedure “shortly after the video conference”, says the German Presidency.
Resumption of negotiations on Horizon Europe
This videoconference will also be an opportunity for the Presidency to take stock of the progress of negotiations with the European Parliament on the regulation establishing Horizon Europe – the EU’s 2021-2027 R&I framework programme.
The co-legislators, whose last trilogue meeting took place on 6 October (see EUROPE 12575/24), were stuck in particular on the question of the budget (see EUROPE 12590/6).
However, an agreement in principle on all elements of the EU’s next multiannual financial framework was reached between Parliament and the EU Council in early November, agreeing on €4 billion of additional new money for Horizon Europe (see EUROPE 12599/2).
Interinstitutional negotiations should therefore be able to move forward. An informal exchange of views is scheduled for Tuesday 1 December and a formal trilogue on Thursday 10 December, a European source told EUROPE.
This Friday, ministers will be briefed by the Commission on the state of play of all the forthcoming legislative proposals on the institutionalised European Partnerships under Horizon Europe.
A package of proposals for nine public-private partnerships and one public-public partnership is being prepared. According to a senior EU official, the college of European Commissioners is expected to adopt the package before Christmas. The negotiation process can then be launched in the EU Council.
On the agenda in 2021
Finally, the EU ministers will be informed by the German Presidency of the negotiations with the Parliament on the packages relating to the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (see EUROPE 12436/8). The Commission will do the same on the state of play of the European Open Science Cloud (see EUROPE 12144/27) and the Open Science Policy Platform.
Finally, the future Portuguese Presidency of the Council will present its R&I work programme for the first half of 2021. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)