Following EUREC’s campaign towards the European Commission and the German Presidency and Member States, which EERA supported, EUREC and other signatories supported EERA’s letter on the importance of funding research in the EU. On the 11th September 2020, EERA expressed concern to the EU institutions on excessive cuts to Horizon Europe, the next research framework programme, in the discussions on the EU budget.

EU cannot fall short of EC latest proposal for a Horizon Europe budget of €94.4 billion and of keeping a strong focus on climate and energy action by maintaining the dedicated budget untouched.

The 15% reduction of the Horizon Europe budget might endanger the progress made by Europe in the field of research and innovation over the years. Even more, it puts at risk the future of the EU, by preventing the Member States to reach those goals targeted by the European Commission, climate neutrality above all.

EUREC endorses this initiative calling for maintaining the Horizon Europe budget to the levels of the Commission proposal and keeping the budget for actions in “Climate, Energy and Mobility” untouched.

It will be crucial, now more than ever, to align concrete action with political discourse. In the view of protecting current and future generations of European citizens, EERA and its cosignatories are calling EU political leaders to reconcile the mobilized resources with the stated political targets.