EC reduces carve-out from Horizon 2020

The European Commission (EC), the European Council and the European Parliament agreed to cut the budget for R&D program Horizon 2020 by EUR 2.2 billion ($2.4 billion) to help fund the newly established European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). In January, the EC had proposed to reallocate EUR 2.7 billion ($2.9 billion) from Horizon 2020 to partly fund the EFSI, a EUR 16 billion ($17.5 billion) stimulus fund that the EC said should unlock public and private investments of at least EUR 315 billion ($343.6 billion) over the next three years.

An EC spokesperson told BioCentury the final version of the regulation is being drafted, therefore details on which Horizon 2020 programs will see cuts are not available. The spokesperson did note that the agreement stipulates that three programs will not be affected: the European Research Council (ERC); the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant initiative, which supports training and career development for researchers; and the "Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation" program, which provides policy and networking support for universities and researchers in EU member states with underfunded public research budgets. ...