Update 19/11/2019
On 18 November, the EU Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the EU budget for 2020. The deal includes more funds for Horizon 2020, successfully reinforcing the programme with an increased focus on climate research. There will be this 13.46bn Euros available for the final year of the programme, representing an increase of 8.8% compared to 2019. This is more than was originally proposed by the Commission and a positive outcome considering previous proposed cuts by the Council. EUA therefore welcomes this positive signal for European R&I and universities.
Erasmus+ will also receive slightly more than originally proposed by the Commission, with 2.89bn euros (+3.6% compared to 2019).
As the EU member states seek an agreement on the overall financial envelope for EU programmes for the next seven years, Brussels will also be busy this autumn discussing the next annual EU budget for 2020.
At the beginning of the summer, the EU Council adopted its position on the draft budget proposed by the European Commission. The European Parliament is now examining the budget and preparing a resolution for mid-October, ahead of negotiations that are expected to be difficult.
Indeed, the Council severely undermined EU ambitions in the field of research and innovation for next year, cutting more than 400 million euros (in commitments) from Horizon 2020. While the proposed amount would still technically represent an increase compared to the 2019 funds for the programme, EUA strongly disagrees with the decision for several reasons:
Therefore, EUA supports the European Parliament in its efforts to reverse these cuts and push forward a budget in line with the proposals of the European Commission, so as to connect means with ambitions.
EUA and its partners continue to support a more ambitious approach to EU investment in education, research and innovation for the post-2020 period and are calling the wider community to sign up to the joint call “Seize our common future #EUInvestinKnowledge”. We count on the European Parliament to defend a significant increase for Horizon Europe to a minimum of 120 billion euros to demonstrate that Europe’s leadership can rise to the challenges ahead and send the right signal to boost the public and private R&I investment in Europe.