Under the leadership of Socialist and Democrat negotiators, members of the committee for research and industry last night agreed to seal the outcome of the last trilogue on this file and strengthen the Horizon Europe programme for the next multi-annual budget of the EU.

The programme, one of the European Parliament’s 15 flagship initiatives, is on course to start from January 1, 2021 and its implementation will not be delayed, thanks to the timely agreement reached in the committee. Negotiators decided to allocate the money in a manner that reflects the ambitions of the Union and the challenges that our society faces, including for the recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dan Nica MEP, S&D and European Parliament negotiator on the file, said:

“Delivering on Horizon Europe is a step in the right direction to support the recovery of our continent. We agreed on a strong and well-financed programme for research and innovation. Horizon 2020 helped find a vaccine against Covid-19 and Horizon Europe will consolidate these results and improve EU research and innovation capacities. The Parliament insisted on ambitious investment in research and innovation, and ensured budgetary stability and predictability in order to have a Horizon Europe programme that will deliver on future challenges. The budgets of several parts of the programme, including the Health cluster, the Climate, energy and mobility cluster, the Digital, industry and space cluster, the Culture, creativity and inclusive society cluster, the European Research Council, research infrastructures, and also the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions to mention but a few.

“Finding an agreement was not an easy task. Yet, we expect research and innovation to have an impact and make a difference in many important challenges: social, health and climate change for example. Horizon Europe’s contribution will help us overcome the health crisis, the economic crisis, and decarbonise and digitalise our economy, no less! Horizon Europe can create opportunities for young talents, small and medium entrepreneurs. We cannot miss the opportunity to lead and meet the challenge. Parliament committed and delivered for Horizon Europe to start on time."