The European Parliament’s Committees for Culture (CULT) and Industry (ITRE) sent written questions, end of July, to Iliana Ivanova, who has been nominated to replace Mariya Gabriel in the European Commission (see EUROPE 13211/29).
As well as asking her about her commitment to working transparently and her future collaboration with the European Parliament, MEPs questioned her about the portfolio she will be responsible for, namely Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth.
Research and innovation
The ITRE members are therefore asking her to detail her “main policy priorities” in the field of innovation and research, inviting it to specify how these relate to other portfolios (Digital, Industry, Environment, etc.) and how she intends to apply the principles of “One In, One Out” (see EUROPE 12815/2) and “Innovation” (see EUROPE 11559/4).
More broadly, the ITRE Committee stresses that the EU must stimulate basic research and its link with innovation in order to “achieve Open Strategic Autonomy” and “be competitive at global level”. The candidate for the College is therefore invited to share the measures she intends to take to create the European Research Area and strengthen the role of the European Research Council.
At the same time, MEPs want to know her strategy for stemming the “brain drain” and “bridging the innovation divide” between regions to unlock the full potential of the European research and innovation ecosystem (see EUROPE 13096/6). Lastly, they call on her to present actions to support Ukraine’s research and innovation sectors, improve access to finance for innovative SMEs in industry and address the under-representation of women in these fields.
Horizon Europe
The ITRE Committee also invites Ms Ivanova to explain how she intends to address the challenges facing Horizon Europe .
MEPs believe that while the programme is already “underfunded”, the Commission’s new initiatives tend to use it to fund new initiatives. They also note that the publication deadlines for work programmes under Horizon Europe are shorter than under its predecessor, Horizon 2020. Finally, they highlight the low level of funding allocated to culture, the persistent problem of “the low engagement of researchers from the widening countries in Horizon Europe”and the need to integrate climate issues.
They also want the future Commissioner to commit to putting in place a process to ensure the European Parliament’s involvement in the strategic planning and monitoring of Horizon Europe.
EYCS
The CULT Committee, for its part, focused its questions on the future of EU policies on education, youth, culture and sport.
In the field of education, MEPs are calling on Ms Ivanova to present concrete measures to achieve the European Education Area by 2025 and to alleviate the pressure on Erasmus+ caused by high inflation and rising interest rates for Next Generation EU. She is also invited to express her views on how to remedy the digital skills deficit (see EUROPE 13227/34).
The same applies to culture, where MEPs want to know her position on the dedicated work plan for 2023-2026 and on Creative Europe. More generally, they ask her about the visibility of European culture, the protection of heritage and the situation of cultural professionals.
As for youth, they call on Ms Ivanova to explain how she intends to guarantee the legacy of the ‘European Year of Youth 2022’ as well as the ‘European Year of Skills 2023’, strengthen the ‘European Solidarity Corps’ and ensure the impact of the EU Youth Strategy. They also want her to take a position on the “Youth test” (see EUROPE 13213/25).
Finally, on the subject of sport, MEPs are asking her what areas the EU should be taking action on.
The future Commissioner has until 21 August to submit her written responses. As announced in our columns, she will then be heard by the parliamentary committees on 5 September (see EUROPE 13227/39).
To see the written questions: https://aeur.eu/f/89e (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)