Call to restore R&D money diverted to Juncker Plan

The European Parliament’s research committee (ITRE) has called for €2.2 billion to be restored to the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, in compensation for the “considerable negative impact” of losing this amount last year to the Commission’s European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). 

The request, drafted by ITRE chair Jerzy Buzek, says the committee is, “Deeply concerned that the shortage of funds in Horizon 2020 has contributed to a drop in the success rate from 20 - 22 per cent in the 7th Framework Programme to 13 - 14 percent.”

The document sets out the committee’s position ahead of the midway review of the EU’s overall seven-year budget, scheduled for the end of this year, saying that if the EU is to reach its research and innovation targets, Horizon 2020’s budget should be restored.

Last year EFSI, or the Juncker Plan as it is more commonly known, sucked up €2.2 billion of science money. The European Institute of Innovation and Technology in Budapest was the largest casualty, with cuts of €350 million, while funding for ICT, nanotechnology and advanced material projects was also hit badly. 

Several members of the committee are sceptical about EFSI and challenge claims that it has been a boon for research investment. 

An opinion by Polish MEP Janusz Lewandowski presented alongside Buzek’s says that ITRE, “Believes that EFSI invests in projects that are not the same as those targeted by the Horizon-affected budget lines.” 

Innovative financial schemes

There has been blowback in recent weeks against statements made by various Commission officials in the past year which say that EU money is more likely to be spent on innovative financial schemes in the future. 

For example, the EU Research Commissioner Carlos Moedas talks frequently about boosting the availability of venture capital by creating one or several fund of funds – presumably using money from Horizon 2020. 

The idea of replacing grants with guarantee schemes is “stupid”, said Dutch centre-left MEP Paul Tang, a member of the budget committee, in an interview with Science|Business. “We will fight it,” he said. 

Some researchers have said the Commission’s first priority should be ensuring that money is flowing to basic research.

Research ministers, who will gather in Brussels on Friday, are expected to make a similar argument. A leaked draft of the text the ministers will publish after the meeting says that, “Within the framework of Horizon 2020, care should be taken to ensure that loan-based financing is not further expanded to the detriment of grant-based R&I funding.”