The German Minister of Education and Research, Anja Karliczek, tirelessly reiterated this on Friday 27 November before her counterparts and the press, during and on the fringes of the informal videoconference of EU Research Ministers (see EUROPE 12610/27): the timely launch of Horizon Europe – the EU’s 2021-2027 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (R&I) – on 1 January 2021 “is still our goal”.
This objective is dear to the European Commissioner for Innovation and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, who recalled that European researchers must be able to count on the EU’s continued support, especially in this time of crisis.
But the implementation of Horizon Europe will not take place without prior agreement between the EU Council and European Parliament on the content of the programme.
A few points still remain to be negotiated with the European Parliament, Ms Karliczek said, referring to the international dimension of the programme and the question of synergies. However, the Minister was optimistic.
Calling on the various parties to be “ambitious, open to compromise and pragmatic”, she maintained that a final political trilogue would suffice to reach a common position.
For even the thorny issue of R&I funds, the main sticking point between the co-legislators (see EUROPE 12590/6), may well be on the way to being resolved, as Parliament recently secured an additional €4 billion in new money for Horizon Europe (see EUROPE 12599/2).
“Of course, today we did discuss the details of these additional means. We must first make sure that everything stays as it is. The Multiannual Financial Framework must be adopted so that we can be sure that we can count on these amounts”, the Minister told the press.
Regardless of the outcome of the next informal meeting (1 December) and the next Horizon Europe trilogue meeting (10 December), the final validation of the framework agreement will remain dependent on the negotiations on the post-2020 MFF, which are again at an impasse (see EUROPE 12610/1).
“Every day without an agreement on the MFF, we see the chances of reaching an agreement on Horizon Europe before the beginning of 2021 dwindling”, Ms Karliczek told her colleagues, saying that a late launch of the programme would send “a negative political signal”.
The lack of final agreement on the MFF and Horizon Europe is also blocking progress in the discussions on the future programme of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT – see EUROPE 12436/8).
The Minister indicated that, on the other hand, few points remained open on this issue and considered that a single trilogue should be sufficient, again, to reach an agreement. “It will be up to you to organise this trilogue”, she added, addressing her Portuguese counterpart (see EUROPE 12610/2). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)