Members of the European Parliament have urged that a preliminary deal on Horizon Europe be made ahead of the May European elections, even if some matters, including the budget, would have to be settled after the new Parliament reports ScienceBusiness,.

Negotiations are currently at an impasse over a range of issues, including who would define the ‘Missions’ and the role of the funding programme in bridging the innovation gap between eastern and western Europe.

The Parliament presented several compromises on key issues in order to secure an agreement with the Member States, who will be meeting this week for more negotiation sessions.

In August 2018, EuChemS published a position paper together with amendments on the European Parliament’s proposal for Horizon Europe. In the document, we stressed the need to keep striving for excellence, the need to allow countries that have previously participated in EU research programmes to continue being able to do so in the future, as well as the need for more ambitious budgets for the programme as a whole, as well as for the European Research Council (ERC) and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).