EUA positively greets draft report on Investment Plan

The European University Association (EUA) has welcomed a draft European Parliamentary report on the proposed European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

The organisation, which represents 850 institutes of higher education in 47 countries, said it was pleased that the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Committee on Budgets had taken into account the arguments put forward by the EUA, which relayed the sector’s concerns regarding the funding of the scheme. The draft report will serve as a basis for the Parliament’s work in the next steps of the procedure, after it is adopted by both committees before the end of April.

The draft report proposes several changes to the Commission’s text, most notably on its funding mechanisms. While the principle of a 50% guarantee from the EU budget is maintained, the report removes the direct reference to Horizon 2020 as a funding source of this guarantee. Instead, the decision on the funding sources of EFSI is embedded in the annual budget procedure. Consequently, the Parliament and Council of the European Union would progressively authorise the release of funds from different sources to be allocated to the EFSI guarantee each year, rather than agreeing upfront as to which programmes will be cut for that purpose.

The EUA welcomes that the lead committees have disconnected Horizon 2020 from the EFSI funding, and understands that an annual discussion could open possibilities for funding EFSI from various sources across the EU budget.

The EUA adds that it remains engaged in the legislative process on behalf of Europe’s universities and calls upon the Parliament and Council to reach a compromise in favour of European research, and avoid cuts that would undermine the EU’s long term competitiveness, also bearing in mind that there can be no innovation without research.