German Research Minister Karliczek: EU member states reach agreement on Horizon Europe

Met dank overgenomen van Duits voorzitterschap Europese Unie 2e helft 2020 (Duits Voorzitterschap) i, gepubliceerd op dinsdag 29 september 2020.

Chaired by German Research Minister Anja Karliczek, the meeting of the Competitiveness Council (Research and Innovation) in Brussels on 29 September achieved an important milestone towards the start of the Horizon Europe programme at the beginning of 2021.

EU research ministers reached agreement in Brussels on a “general approach” for the remaining outstanding issues concerning the proposal for the ninth EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation known as Horizon Europe, which will run from 2021 to 2027.

German Minister for Research Anja Karliczek explained:

Today’s agreement is an important step forward towards final adoption of Horizon Europe. We now need to make sure with the European Parliament and the Commission that our forward-looking EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation can enter into force without delay at the beginning of next year. This is our joint task for the benefit of the European research and innovation community as well as the competitiveness of the EU.

The agreement among the EU member states focused on the following outstanding issues which had not so far been negotiated:

  • synergies with other EU programmes
  • funding from the new recovery instrument Next Generation EU
  • the allocation of the Horizon Europe budget among the individual programme areas, and
  • international cooperation and the association of third countries

In the next step, the Council will open the so-called trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission with the aim of adopting the Regulation and the Specific Programme for Horizon Europe by the end of the year.