LERU says H2020 approval sends important signal

The League of European Research Universities (LERU) has congratulated the European Parliament for sending an important signal of support for research and innovation by signing off on Horizon 2020.

LERU has said it is pleased that a protracted and unsettling period of insecurity about the EU’s overall budget is finally over and that a close but still timely start of Horizon 2020 is now possible. The first calls can be published on 11 December, limiting the funding gap between FP7 and H2020 to the unavoidable minimum, which is of great importance to the scientific community.

A disagreement between Parliament and Council of the European Union on the EU 2014 budget had caused an additional delay but finally the Parliament did eventually approve the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020 and the legislative proposals for Horizon 2020. In doing so, it ended a negotiation period of almost two years, since the publication of the original H2020 proposals by the European Commission in November 2011.

According to LERU, despite last week’s agreement, the shortage of payment credits with which DG Research & Innovation will have to cope in the next few years is still considerable and worrying and the organisation has urged national governments to close this gap as soon as possible.

LERU will keep close tabs on those aspects of Horizon 2020 which it has already identified in the past as crucial issues, such as simplification, the rules for funding, the European Research Council and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, social sciences and humanities, and twinning and teaming efforts.