The EU Council of Ministers have reached agreement on two of the regulations that will govern Horizon 2020, the EU’s new €80 billion research programme, with research ministers approving the Rules for Participation, which sets out the way researchers, universities and companies can claim their funding, and also agreeing their position on the governance structure of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). The Council will now have to reach a compromise with the European Parliament.
However, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, repeatedly had to defend the Commission’s commitment to simplification, with research ministers trying to alter the reimbursement scheme at the Council meeting yesterday (10 October).
Stavros Malas, the Minister of Health for Cyprus, who is responsible for the research portfolio during the Cyprus Presidency, said, “We are very pleased [at] reaching a partial general approach in two main dossiers […] It was indeed an enormous achievement to arrive at a consensus on the Rules for Participation in H2020, since there were many and strong reservations on the proposed text.”
Reimbursements
The Council’s agreement largely follows the Commission’s proposal to simplify the reimbursement structure of the current research programme, Framework Programme 7 (FP7). The Commission’s proposal introduces two reimbursement rates for indirect costs, 100 per cent for R&D projects and 70 per cent for close to market initiatives such as pilot production lines. The Commission had proposed to include a global flat rate of 20 per cent of direct costs to help pay for indirect costs, the Council decided to increase that to 25 per cent.
The Council made further changes that would allow a maximum of €8,000 to be awarded to researchers as a bonus. In addition, the Council also demanded that the Commission carries out a mid-term review of the funding model, to see if the new approach works.
Small changes for EIT
The Council made a small number of changes to the EIT agreement, calling for a geographically diverse governing board and an annual report from the EIT to the Council and European Parliament. MEPs have already called for EIT officials to attend hearings in Parliament on an annual basis.
The Council now has three more Horizon 2020 proposals on which to agree, including the regulation establishing Horizon 2020, the EIT’s strategic agenda, which sets out the sectors and challenges that should receive funding, and an agreement on research and training in the field of atomic energy. Unlike the European Parliament, the Council treats Horizon 2020 as six individual legislative proposals.
The European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee is set to vote on its position on all six Horizon 2020 proposals during the last week of November, after which a plenary vote can be scheduled. Once Parliament and Council have agreed on their positions, negotiations on the entire Horizon 2020 package can start, which is expected to last into the summer of 2013.
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