European Commission's head of R&I calls MEP's proposals for Horizon Europe "complex and costly"

The head of the European Commission's research and innovation department has pushed back at calls by a leading MEP to create two expert-led councils to oversee collaborative research under the EU's Horizon Europe programme.

Speaking in the European Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) committee on 24/03/2026, Marc Lemaître, Director-General of the Commission's DG for Research and Innovation (DG RTD), said that proposals by German MEP Christian Ehler to create two new councils would add "complexity, heaviness and costly coordination, while undermining Commission implementation prerogatives and financial accountability".

Lemaître was reacting to Ehler's draft report on the next Horizon Europe programme, published on 13/03, which said that the Commission wanted to subject Horizon Europe to the priorities of the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). The fund is intended to help innovators and companies develop the results of EU-funded research into viable business propositions.

Ehler has called for Horizon Europe to keep its own independent programming, for public…