The ECs assessment of the EU Missions is very positive so that it proposed a new Mission on the New European Bauhaus and to increase the budget. Stakeholders remain critical.
On 19 July 2023, the European Commission (EC) released a communication on the EU Missions. Missions are a new feature under Horizon Europe with the goal to provide solutions to Europe’s greatest challenges with a coordinated effort by the Commission to pool resources as well as to mobilise public and private actors and engage directly with citizens to boost societal uptake of new solutions. As required by the co-legislators, the EC published an assessment of the EU Missions after their first two years of operation. A Staff Working Document provides the technical evidence of the EU Missions assessment, gathered through a study that assessed each individual Mission on five dimensions, namely, i. the Mission’s goal and objectives; ii. the selection process of each EU Mission; iii. the Mission’s governance structures and functioning; iv. the progress towards the fulfilment of the Mission’s objectives; and v. the Mission’s budget and funding arrangements.
The communication highlights that the EU Missions are on track to achieve their ambitious goals by 2030 and provides an assessment of progress: The Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change aims to support 150 European regions to become climate resilient by 2030. Up to now, 308 regional and local authorities have signed the Mission Charter. A dedicated Mission Implementation Platform gives technical assistance to the regions, while 50 authorities are developing a common methodology for carrying out detailed risk and vulnerability assessments. The Cancer Mission aims to extend and improve the life of 3 million people affected by cancer but also their families by 2030 through prevention and cure. The Mission plays a key role in supporting the development of the UNCAN.eu data platform and is an important complement to Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. The Climate Neutral and Smart CitiesMission’s objective is to reach 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030 and have them as experimentation and innovation hubs for all European cities. In 2022, 377 cities expressed their interest in the call for expressions. The Mission has created a powerful community of cities that, through the Mission Platform, works in groups, exchanges experience and can access a knowledge repository to accelerate climate-neutral solutions. The Restore our Ocean and Waters Mission aims to protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems with the ever-growing pressures on aquatic resources. Four Mission ‘lighthouses’ in major European sea and river basins were established to pilot, demonstrate and deploy the needed solutions at scale, making them available to over 100 associated European regions. The Soil Mission aims to establish 100 Living Labs and Lighthouses by 2030, to provide solutions for the sustainable management and restoration of soils in rural and urban areas. Under the Mission, regional and local authorities are developing Territorial Soil Management Agreements for soil health. The Mission is advancing harmonised soil monitoring in the EU and is developing strategies for soil decontamination and regeneration as well as new business models for soil-friendly and climate-neutral value chains.
The communication also includes commitments from the EU to improve the Mission approach via i. the intensification of discussions with political actors, notably Member States, on how to streamline EU Missions’ governance to make it more efficient, inclusive, and effective; ii. mobilisation of a broader portfolio of instruments to secure greater participation of the private sector, including public-private partnerships and the public procurement of innovation; iii. establishment of targeted actions to support local and national communication efforts to boost citizen engagement and raise public awareness of EU Missions.
The communication proposes to spend 11% of the Horizon Europe Pillar 2 budget on EU Missions in the second half of the Programme (up from 10% currently), which represents a total amount of over €3 billion for 2024-2027. Finally, the European Commission has already started preparations for a new EU Mission on the New European Bauhaus planned to be introduced with the Strategic Plan for the second half of Horizon Europe. The preparations will follow the same process as for the first five Missions (e.g., the appointment of a Mission Board and drafting of a Mission Implementation Plan) to engage with people to support Green Deal policies.
Meanwhile, the Brussels research policy bubble is not too keen on the ECs proposals to increase the budget and add a sixth Mission on the New European Bauhaus. Stakeholder associations criticise that the extremely positive assessment is not sufficiently based on evidence. For example, the claimed securing of financial support beyond Horizon Europe has been limited, as Director-General for Research and Innovation Marc Lemaître said in June. Moreover, the assessment right now is thought to be premature, as no Mission could deliver on any of its objectives, neither regarding the mobilisation of funding nor the project implementation. Also, the new Mission on the New European Bauhaus is criticised, as the added-value and research aspect is doubtful, while the fear exists, that it could lead to even more dilution of the already loaded Horizon Europe budget. Overall, while the concept of Missions, in general, is supported, research associations criticise that the Missions are currently no tool to foster and fund research and innovation but are mainly used to streamline policy and infrastructure funding.