Confidence on Israeli Horizon 2020 participation

The EU’s Middle East envoy has suggested that Israel and the EU should be able to resolve differences over Israeli settlements – enabling the participation of Israel in the EU’s research programme.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, Andreas Reinicke expressed confidence that Israel and the EU could reach an agreement that will enable the country to take part in the EU’s next research programme, Horizon 2020.

Recent times have seen Brussels come into conflict with Israel over the country’s controversial settlement policy. July saw the EU publish guidelines banning funding for any entities beyond the so-called ‘Green Line’. This excludes any Israeli organisations in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The EU position is that these territories do not belong to Israel. The EU is pushing Israel to accept the EU position on the matter.

Israel’s ambassador to the EU, David Walzer has previously said: “The negotiations are aimed at seeing whether we can find common ground which, on one hand, will respect European policies and visions regarding the region and on the other hand will allow Israel to be a member of the programme.”

Should Israel participate in Horizon 2020, it will be expected to invest €600m in the funding programme, and will see a return of €900n in grants and investments. The country is one of a few non-EU members invited to join Horizon 2020.