The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a common understanding on the majority of the operative provisions of Horizon Europe, the next EU framework programme on research and innovation for the years 2021 to 2027.
The programme will be based on three complementary and interconnected pillars: the first pillar, Excellence Science, will support the Union’s scientific leadership and develop high-quality knowledge and skills; the second pillar Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness will address societal challenges and industrial technologies through research in the field of health, security, digital and key enabling technologies, climate, energy, mobility, food and natural resources. In parallel to these areas, a limited range of research missions and partnerships will also be introduced. The third pillar, Innovative Europe will focus on scaling up breakthrough and disruptive innovation by establishing the European Innovation Council.
The common understanding between the Council and the European Parliament also contains improvements compared to the Commission’s proposal. It 1) stipulates that under certain conditions, the European Innovation Council may also provide grant-only or equity-only support; 2) provides a list of areas for possible missions and partnerships 3) acknowledges Member states’ decisive role on defining research and innovation priorities 4) widens the provisions on participation.
As to the next steps, the Council now expects the negotiations with the next European Parliament to resume as soon as possible based on the progress achieved in this common understanding. Negotiations will also need to consider the future overall agreement on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027.
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Source: The European Council
