After the EU research ministers’ agreement on Horizon Europe, the legislation awaits finalisation in trilogue with the Parliament and the Commission.
While Member States found agreement on the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and the Next Generation EU (NGEU) COVID-19 recovery instrument back in late July, the European Parliament (EP) continues to ask for improvement of the budget. The unresolved MFF and NGEU are also blocking the trilogue negotiations between the Council, the EP and the European Commission (EC) on the Horizon Europe programme, after research ministers reached a General Approach on 29 September 2020 (see SwissCore article). Early this month on 6 October, economics and finance ministers reached also a political agreement on the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the main instrument of the €750 billion NGEU recovery instrument. The RRF would offer a mix of grants (€312.5 billion) and loans (€360 billion) to Member States to provide support for reforms, to prepare economies for the green and digital transitions and to help mitigate economic and social impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ministers reached a political agreement on the proposal for a RRF regulation, including governance, control systems and the challenges to be addressed in the recovery and resilience plans to be submitted by Member States to receive RRF support. The COREPER formalised this political agreement on 9 October and it forms the mandate for the German Presidency’s negotiations with the EP.
However, on the EP’s side, there is still resistance to move ahead on the next budget without an increase. On 15 October, at the occasion of the European Council meeting on the EU’s carbon emission target, the EU-UK negotiations, and international security, EP President David Sassoli asked EU heads of state and government to help move the stalled negotiations on the 2021-2027 budget forward by revising their negotiating mandate for the German Council Presidency. He noted that the EP’s negotiators had asked for an additional €39 billion for key EU programmes that promote a sustainable recovery. “This is a paltry sum when set against an overall package worth €1.8 trillion, but one which would make an enormous difference to the citizens who will benefit from our common policies,” Sassoli said, referring to the total amount of the MFF and the NGEU recovery instrument. He also insisted on a binding timetable for the introduction of new types of EU budget revenue over the coming years.
Heads of state and government of the Member States also discussed the EC’s proposal to reduce carbon emissions by at least 55% below 1990 levels until 2030, after the previous goal foresaw a reduction by 50-55%. Sassoli insisted that the reduction target should be more ambitious, calling for 60% less greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. He is convinced that “protecting the environment means new jobs, more research, more social protection, more opportunities.” Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, also touched on the budget talks when he addressed the EP on 21 October. Michel said that the delivery of the EU budget will “guarantee Europe’s credibility” and he pushed for a swift agreement, “so that Europe’s citizens and businesses can enjoy, as soon as possible, the benefits of this ambitious programme in supporting recovery, the economy, prosperity and wellbeing throughout Europe”.
Already back in July after the European Council’s agreement on MFF and NGEU, European research and innovation associations strongly supported the EP’s request for a higher budget (see SwissCore article). On 19 October, a large group representing the European research and innovation community, including the Vice-Presidents of the European Research Council (ERC), the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO), the European University Association (EUA), the League of European Research Universities (LERU), Science Europe, and CESAER joined Christian Ehler, Member of the European Parliament (MEP), EPP Group Coordinator in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE), and Rapporteur for Horizon Europe to call on Member States for an increase of the Horizon Europe budget to meet the challenges of the green and digital transitions. There are even more persistent efforts to improve the EU’s budget: Pierre Larrouturou, French MEP and the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group’s budget shadow rapporteur called “it obscene to hear that there is no money for health, climate and employment, while financial markets have never been in better shape”. He then announced to start a hunger strike to add pressure on EU leaders.
Another contentious point in the negotiations between the Council and the Parliament is to include a binding provision that better safeguards the rule of law and transparency when Member States are receiving EU funding.