Recent budget discussions in Brussels have reinforced the urgency of safeguarding European investments in research and innovation. According to the Council’s latest negotiating box for the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), member states are considering a 9,6% cut to the future Horizon Europe programme alongside reductions to other key programmes supporting competitiveness and innovation.
Unifi underlines that this sends a worrying signal at a time when Europe faces intensifying global competition in science and technology. Research and innovation are not ordinary expenditures. They are investments. As negotiations continue, Unifi urges member state governments and finance ministers to view research and innovation as investments in Europe’s future growth, technological leadership and resilience and to secure an ambitious budget for research and innovation and a stronger role for scientific excellence in the upcoming financial framework.
Unifi recognises the difficult budgetary choices facing governments as negotiations on the next MFF continue. However, if the overall EU budget becomes smaller, research and innovation should not bear a disproportionate share of the reductions. A smaller budget requires prioritisation, and investments that determine Europe’s future competitiveness should be among the last areas to face cuts.
Nordic Universities: 200 MEUR Budget for FP10
Unifi therefore reaffirms the position adopted by the Nordic Rectors’ Conferences and repeated during Nordic University Days in Brussels at the end of September: Europe cannot strengthen its competitiveness, technological sovereignty and security while simultaneously weakening the very investments that underpin them.
The Nordic universities continue to support the European Parliament’s ambition for a €200 billion budget which falls 41,8 billion euros short in the Irish Presidency proposal. This level of investment is needed to account for inflation, improve success rates of excellent proposals, strengthen Europe’s scientific excellence, and ensure that Europe remains competitive in an increasingly challenging geopolitical environment.
– At a time when Europe is focused on competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy, cutting investments in research and innovation would be a serious mistake. The Nordic countries have demonstrated that long-term investment in research, education, and innovation is the foundation of competitiveness and societal wellbeing. Europe now faces a similar choice. If we expect research and innovation to deliver solutions for global challenges, we must provide resources to match those ambitions. Excellence cannot be achieved on a shrinking budget, says Rector Jari Ojala, chair of Unifi.
Read the joint position of the Nordic Rectors’ Conference.
Further information:
Janika Luukinen, Adviser, Science and RDI Policy, Unifi, p. 050 430 4478