On Friday 28 May, the Council of the European Union formalised a political agreement in principle (‘general approach’) on the proposal for a regulation revising the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.
This draft regulation, which replaces the previous one in force since October 2018, is to be used to pool resources for the development, deployment, and maintenance of an infrastructure and supercomputer network. The first of these, acquired by the EU for €17.2 million, was inaugurated at the end of April 2021 in Slovenia (see EUROPE 12702/10).
“Today we have taken a major step to ensure that Europe will be a leader in this sector and will be able to meet the challenges of running these computers. This is essential for the digital transition and for shaping research in several areas, such as science and biomedical sciences”, Portuguese Minister of Science and Higher Education Manuel Heitor told the press.
The Regulation (2018/1488) establishing the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking had been allocated a budget of €1.1 billion for the period 2019-2020. The updated version of the Regulation foresees €8 billion for the period 2021-2033 for this section of the package. Some of this funding will come from the Horizon Europe programme and the Digital Europe programme. Additional funding will come from the private sector.
Several changes
Several changes have been made to the Commission’s proposal. For the sake of legal clarity and predictability of financial contributions from Member States and participating countries, the alignment with the matching principle of the Horizon Europe Regulation has been strengthened.
In accordance with this regulation and again with the aim of simplifying the process, a coordination mechanism for centralised management has been established. Participating States will have to synchronise their payment, reporting, and auditing schedules in order to reduce the administrative burden on beneficiaries.
Participating countries will also be able to entrust the payment of their contribution to the Joint Undertaking so that beneficiaries have only one grant agreement. However, they will retain a veto over the use of their national contributions for beneficiaries based in their country.
While increasing the lifetime of supercomputers is, according to the EU Council, “a cost-effective way of ensuring a good return on investment”, the text provides for the possibility of financing the upgrading of supercomputers owned or co-owned by EuroHPC. These contributions will be capped, says the EU Council, which assures that this mode of operation should make it possible “to ensure the widest possible geographical distribution of supercomputers”.
Finally, in terms of governance, the EU Council text clarifies the establishment and responsibilities of the different bodies. The administrative costs will be paid solely by the EU, the document says.
See the text of the EU Council’s general approach: https://bit.ly/2RQDOgE
MEPs ready to negotiate with Council of the EU
In the European Parliament, the members of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) adopted (69 votes in favour, none against and three abstentions), on Wednesday 26 May, the draft report on the proposal for a regulation revising the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (see EUROPE 12727/8).
It is expected to be submitted to the plenary of the European Parliament in July. “It is a very consensual text; all the major political groupings are united and are moving in the same direction on this issue. There is no real political divide”, said a parliamentary source. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)