Illustrative photo, Source: flickr.com/Images Money
On 28 May 2015, the European Parliament and the Council negotiators reached a political agreement on EFSI, which included a deal on the contribution of the Horizon 2020 budget: €2.2 billion instead of €2.7 billion, as originally proposed by the European Commission.
However, the truce did not last long and on July 9 a new attack on Horizon 2020 was launched, this time through the Council´s position on the draft 2016 EU budget and the cuts to the Horizon 2020 budget, as agreed by the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER). It goes without saying that seeking to further reduce the budget for Horizon 2020 (by €73.2 million in commitment appropriations and €205.2 million in payment appropriations!) is unacceptable for a Union that prides itself on supporting competitiveness and research.
As LERU stated repeatedly, “Horizon 2020 is not a lemon!” and the EU institutions and Member States should stop squeezing it. During the ongoing budgetary procedure, LERU calls upon the other EU institutions to strongly oppose the cuts in the Horizon 2020 budget for 2016, as suggested by the Council, and to prevent the introduction of further cuts.
