At confirmation hearings, Johannes Hahn told MEPs a ‘compromise’ on agriculture and cohesion is needed to divert funds to research, while proposed new head of energy, Kadri Simson said the EU will not meet carbon targets unless it invests more in R&I

The €170M project will be a testbed for the new cohesion policy programmes for 2021-2027

Cohesion fund is shaping up as direct rival to Horizon Europe in fight for extra spending in the EU’s 2021 - 2027 budget

Decisions over research, farm and other EU budgets postponed to the end of 2019, as EU Council divides over top EU leadership jobs

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn appeals to research chiefs Carlos Moedas and Jean-Eric Paquet to keep R&D programme focused on excellence, rather than even spread of winners

New features in cohesion funding include incentives for cross-border investment and a dramatically scaled down rulebook

The seal of excellence is as much a signifier of the EU’s R&D funding shortfall as it is of Europe’s high quality science. Now, the EU wants money from the cohesion programme to fill the funding gap and translate research to market