The European Parliament adopted the legal basis of Horizon Europe, R&I associations express their concern about restrictions – and the planning of the new ERA.
On 27 April 2021, the EU’s new Research and Innovation (R&I) Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, passed a crucial hurdle towards its formal enactment: After the Council adopted its position on the Horizon Europe legal basis on 16 March, the European Parliament (EP) plenary adopted the Regulation overwhelmingly with 699 to 5 votes and 17 abstentions. Also the agreement with Council on the Horizon Europe Specific Programme was adopted with similar voting ratios by the EP. Once these documents will be published in the EU’s Official Journal, they will become the law. With this, the new EU programme will retroactively come into force from January 2021, after an agreement in principle between the institutions already in December 2020 (see SwissCore article). Horizon Europe constitutes the EU’s largest and most comprehensive R&I Framework Programme so far, comprising a budget of €95.5 billion in current prices and including new instruments like the European Innovation Council, Missions, and a streamlined set of European Partnerships. Also on 27 April, the EP adopted the new legal basis of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
In parallel to the final steps towards the adoption of the legal basis of Horizon Europe, the preparation of its implementation with the drafting of work programmes has been underway for some time. In March, restrictions for the participation of longstanding collaboration partners from the UK, Switzerland and Israel in quantum and space research appeared in the respective work programme (see SwissCore article). After several European R&I associations already spoke out against the restrictions earlier, a coalition of several associations followed up and expressed their concern together on 23 April: The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities and the League of European Research Universities (LERU), together with the ‘German U15’, the ‘Russell Group’, and French Research Universities (UDICE) joined forces and published a statement urging the European Commission (EC) to reconsider its stance on restrictions: “We are concerned about proposals to restrict the UK, Switzerland and potentially other countries’ access to certain parts of the programme, including quantum and space projects.”
The research universities recalled that “the commitment and friendship between European research-intensive universities is as strong as ever”, highlighting that the restrictions do not reflect the European spirit of R&I collaboration. The coalition of research universities welcomed the UK’s upcoming association to Horizon Europe and expressed the hope that also Switzerland will soon receive positive signals for an association. Professor Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General of LERU, said: “An overly protective ‘EU-first’ approach could hamper ground breaking research and innovation.” He is convinced that “if the European Union wants to strengthen its global competitive position, cooperation with strong and reliable research partners is key”. Deketelaere warned that losing the UK and Switzerland as close collaborators would be a “huge loss”.
On 27 April, The Guild also published a statement that asks the EC to live up to the expectations of the research community when it comes to the new European Research Area (ERA) and the related ‘Pact for R&I in Europe’, foreseen as a non-binding Council Recommendation. This ‘Pact’ was first announced by the EC in its Communication on the ‘New European Research Area’ on 30 September 2020 and should define commonly agreed values and principles and identify priority areas for joint actions (see SwissCore article). However, The Guild criticises that the proposed outline of the ‘Pact’ doesn’t focus on the key question ‘how to strengthen Europe’s research capacity?’ and does not include tangible measures to improve for instance research careers and the retention of talents in Europe.
Also LERU and CESAER reacted to the planned ‘Pact for R&I in Europe’ in a joint letter to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, inviting the EC to come forward with proposals for an improved ‘Pact’ with legally binding provisions. LERU and CESAER are missing the reconfirmation of earlier Council Conclusions concerning the 3% of GDP public and private funding goal for R&I. Furthermore, the two associations ask the EC for direct, structured and sustained “involvement of R&I stakeholders in the ERA governance system and in the development of the Pact for R&I in Europe”. The former is also an indirect criticism of the ERA Forum for Transition that the EC set up with Member States in February to help focus the new ERA, a body that the European university associations do not perceive as an inclusive forum. The EC invited also stakeholders at large in April to contribute to the ongoing consultation on the Pact for R&I in Europe. The feedback period lasts until 13 May 2021.