News archive - The new EU budget in figures – what will happen to Horizon 2020?
EU leaders met in Brussels on 7-8 February and forged a deal on the Union's multiannual financial framework that sees the first net reduction to the EU budget in the Union’s history. Now the final decision by the members of the European Parliament is awaited, and it is expected to mull them over for some 18 months.
As regards Horzon 2020 a sentence was added in the EU Council’s Conclusions to save research from the worst cuts. "The funding for Horizon 2020 and ERASMUS for all programmes will represent a real growth compared to 2013 level." The way how this will be realised and the exact sum for Horizon 2020 will be determined in lower level meetings in the coming days. At least it gives some rise for optimism and indicates that the recent campaigning for securing the EU research and innovation budget was not in vain.
As we already reported yesterday, EU leaders have met in Brussels on 7-8 February to forge a deal on the Union's multiannual frame work. After hours of talks, an agreement was achieved with the result that the long-term EU budget for 2014-2020 is smaller than it was back in 2007-2013 by 3.4% or €34 billion, partly by reducing planned funding for investment in infrastructure, broadband, research and digitalisation.
Despite the agreement, Parliament's four largest political groups have indicated that the deal as it is may not receive the necessary parliamentary majority. They feel it does too little to stimulate growth and job creation and are concerned it could lead to a structural deficit. "The real negotiations will start now."
The table below shows the new budget figures compared to the current situation (2007 – 2013), and the previous proposals by the European Commission and by the President of the European Council.
|
(in millions of euros) |
Current situation 2007-2013 |
Europ. Comm. (CE) Propos. 07/2012 |
Van Rompuy (HVR 2) Propos. Of 22/11/2012 |
Final deal on the budget |
Diff. current and final budget |
Diff. HVR 2 and final deal |
|
Heading 1 |
444 310 |
503 062 |
459 691 |
450 783 |
1.3% |
-2% |
|
Sub-heading 1a (Competitiveness for growth and jobs) |
91 495 |
164 068 |
139 543 |
125 614 |
38% |
-11% |
|
Connecting Europe Facility (infrastructure) |
12 900 |
40 000 |
41 249 |
29 299 |
140% |
-29% |
|
- Transport |
21 829 |
26 948 |
23 174 |
-15% |
||
|
- Energy |
9 178 |
7126 |
5 126 |
-15% |
||
|
- Telecoms |
9 242 |
7175 |
1 000 |
-86% |
||
|
ITER/GMS/Galileo |
15 548 |
12793 |
12 793 |
0% |
||
|
- ITER |
2 707 |
2707 |
2 707 |
0% |
||
|
- GMS |
5 841 |
3786 |
3 786 |
0% |
||
|
- Galileo |
7 000 |
6300 |
6 300 |
0% |
||
|
Decommissions |
702 |
860 |
860 |
0% |
||
|
Decommission of Ignalina nuclear facility (Lituania) |
x |
400 |
400 |
0% |
||
|
Decommission of Bohunice nuclear facility (Slovakia) |
x |
200 |
200 |
0% |
||
|
Decommssion of Kozludy nuclear facility (Bulgaria) |
x |
260 |
260 |
0% |
||
|
Sub-heading 1b (Cohesion) |
354 815 |
338 994 |
320 148 |
325 149 |
-10% |
-1.5% |
|
Less-developed regions |
163 561 |
161 427 |
164 279 |
-2% |
||
|
Transition regions |
36 471 |
31 393 |
31 677 |
0% |
||
|
More-developed regions |
55 419 |
50 872 |
49 492 |
-3% |
||
|
Cohesion |
70 740 |
66 341 |
66 362 |
0% |
||
|
Outermost regions |
925 |
1 387 |
1 387 |
0% |
||
|
Territorial cooperation |
11 878 |
8 728 |
8 948 |
2.5% |
||
|
Heading 2 (Agriculture) |
420 682 |
389 972 |
372 229 |
373 179 |
-12% |
< 1% |
|
Direct payments |
336 685 |
283 051 |
277 852 |
277 851 |
-17% |
0% |
|
Rural development |
91 966 |
83 666 |
84 936 |
1% |
||
|
Reserve for agricultural crisis |
3 500 |
2 800 |
2 800 |
0% |
||
|
Heading 3 (Security and citizenship) |
12 366 |
18 809 |
16 685 |
15 686 |
27% |
-6% |
|
Heading 4 (Europe as a global actor) |
58 362 |
72 450 |
60 667 |
58 704 |
0% |
-4% |
|
Heading 5 (Administration) |
56 508 |
63 165 |
62 629 |
61 629 |
10% |
-2% |
|
Compensation (rebates) |
920 |
27 |
x |
x |
x |
|
|
Other |
||||||
|
European development funds (EDF) |
26 483 |
30 319 |
26 984 |
26 984 |
2% |
0% |
|
Solidarity funds |
7 000 |
7 000 |
4 550 |
3 500 |
-50% |
-23% |
|
Flexibility instruments |
1 400 |
3 500 |
3 500 |
3 297 |
135% |
-6% |
|
Globalisation adjustment fund |
3 500 |
3 000 |
1 848 |
1 050 |
-70% |
-44% |
|
Emergency funds |
1 547 |
2 450 |
1 960 |
1 960 |
26% |
0% |
|
Total (without Other) |
993 601 |
1 047 458 |
971 901 |
959 988 |
-3.5% |
-1.5% |
|
Total (with Other) |
1 033 531 |
1 091 277 |
1 010 743 |
996 776 |
-3.5% |
-1.2% |
|
Total (with Other inclus, without EDF) |
1 005 501 |
1 060 958 |
983 759 |
969 795 |
-3.5% |
-1.5% |
|
Source Euractiv |
||||||
The sub-heading 1a “Competitiveness for growth and jobs” (under which Horizon 2020 is to be located) appears to be one of the biggest victims of the talks at EU Council. The total level of commitments is now put at €125.7 billion when much higher were the previous proposals.
The ‘Connecting Europe Facility’ (CFE) is slashed from €41.2 billion to €29.3 billion. Sectors that have been affected include transport (from €26.9 billion to €23.2 billion) and energy (from €7.1 billion to €5.1 billion). Three large infrastructure programmes variably changed while the sums allocated for nuclear decommissioning for the three nuclear plants in Lithuania, Slovakia and Bulgaria - which had to shut down reactors as part of their accession treaties - remain unchanged:
A breakdown of Horizon 2020′s budget is not stated in the final conclusions document, nonetheless the predicted cut is practically confirmed in comparison with the original European Commision’s proposal for a 80 billion euro research and innovation funding programme (2014-2020). The budget seems to be approximately reduced by 11% .
However stronger cuts were avoided and EU leaders agreed on a substantial increase (if compared to the MFF 2007-2013) of the financial means for future geared expenditure such as research, innovation and education, in order to promote growth and create jobs. In fact the expenditure ceiling for sub-heading 1a ("competitiveness") amounts to EUR 125.61 bn, which is an increase of more than 37% compared to the MFF 2007-2013.
In practice, the EU leaders committed to increase the funding for the EU research programme "Horizon 2020" and the "Erasmus for all" programme in real terms by including a sentence in the final conclusions: "The funding for Horizon 2020 and ERASMUS for all programmes will represent a real growth compared to 2013 level."
The way how this will be realised and the exact sum for Horizon 2020 will be determined in lower level meetings in the coming days.
Moreover the European Union operates a complex co-decision making system, and budgets must also be agreed upon by the European Parliament. The Parliament is historically friendlier to European research policies and it had earlier called for a mighty €100 billion budget for Horizon 2020.
This at least gives some rise for optimism and indicates that the campaigning for securing the EU research and innovation was not in vain.
Sources and more information: Euractiv.com, EU Parliament, Science Calling, Nature.come, Petition for EU research, EU Council
- Europe
- FP7
- Cross-thematic/Interdisciplinary
Entry created by Desiree Pecarz on February 12, 2013
Modified on February 12, 2013
