Christian Ehler report: Stakeholders concerned about the fate of Pillar 2 and research collaboration

The report of Christian Ehler, German MEP, on the assessment of the implementation of Horizon Europe maintains the intention to allocate half of the FP10 budget to the ERC and EIC, as can be seen in the amended version of this same report published by its author on X on 11/12/2024.

It adds that "collaborative research is at the heart of the FP and considers that Pillar 2 has fostered research collaboration and has in particular been able to support joint research and innovation agendas for technology maturation".

Following the publication on 27/11/2024 of the draft of this report on the prefiguration of the successor to Horizon Europe, one of the issues that has most agitated the players in Brussels is that of Pillar 2, dedicated to Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness.

According to calculations published by EARTO, the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations, following the publication of this draft report, granting 50% of the funds to the two councils would mean reducing the Pillar 2 budget from 58.9% to 34%.

Pillar 2 also accounts for 74…