The European ministers for Research adopted without surprise, on Friday 2 December, three non-legislative texts that should pave the way for greater coordination of European efforts and investments in research and innovation (see EUROPE 13074/12).
The EU Council adopted conclusions on research infrastructures (see EUROPE 13029/11). The text is an element of the European Research Area. For the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel, it is a backbone for supporting the work of European researchers and attracting talent from other regions of the world.
The Czech Minister for Research, Vladimír Balaš, in a public session, recalled that the work on research infrastructures is one of the priorities of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council. He expressed his pride in the international conference on research infrastructure organised by the Presidency on 19 October. Mr Balaš stressed the need for political commitment to long-term investment and funding for research and innovation (R&I) in Europe to provide stability and predictability.
In particular, the conclusions call on the European Commission and the Member States to develop the next edition of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) and to publish it by the end of 2025. The Commission is invited to present an initiative on a revised European Charter for Access to Research Infrastructure in 2023.
The work of the Presidency on the texts on the agenda was welcomed by various Member States (Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy and Portugal). The German State Secretary, Kornelia Haugg, emphasised that the Czech Presidency’s programme was extremely busy and that it had been able to score points.
The EU Council then adopted a text on the new European Research Agenda (see EUROPE 12986/15).
Commissioner Gabriel was personally impressed by the speed of adoption of these conclusions (in less than 5 months since the proposal).
She pointed out that the Commission had started to implement some of these actions by adopting a new framework for State aid for research, development and innovation. The Commission also published guidelines on synergies between cohesion policy and Horizon Europe and launched the ‘Deep Tech Talent Initiative’ to skill one million people within European deep tech fields (see EUROPE 13059/34). Mariya Gabriel confirmed in a public session the imminent adoption of the work programme on European innovation ecosystems and the European Innovation Council. Finally, it asked Member States to propose actions in the framework of the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to support the new research agenda.
Finally, the ministers approved the Recommendation on Research Guidelines, including 24 non-binding guidelines to promote the widest possible societal use and valorisation of intellectual assets generated by R&I activities (see EUROPE 13070/5).
Ms Gabriel stressed that the current crises reinforce the need for timely use of research results, the need for a paradigm shift and the need to translate these principles into national initiatives. She announced that the Commission will launch a tour of European capitals in 2023 to support the implementation of these guidelines.
In the political debate, Member States agreed on the importance of public policy decision-making based on scientific expertise. However, they highlighted different ways of working, ranging, for example, from strengthening support for scientific expertise (Germany, Malta) to the horizontal integration of scientific councils into their policy-making process (Spain).
Finally, Commissioner Gabriel reiterated her invitation to Member States to participate widely in the consultation on the European Research Framework Programmes. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)