22 Dec 2020 | News
Viewpoint: ‘We’ve come up with the world’s best research programme’
Christian Ehler says the EU’s long-sought science spending deal ’saved the political face of Europe’
MEP Christian Ehler. Photo: EU Parliament.
European People’s Party member Christian Ehler hailed legislators for approving the European Union’s 2021-2027 research spending plan, saying it is, “The best, most modern research programme in the world.”
In 2021, the EU’s Horizon Europe programme succeeds the current scheme, Horizon 2020, which has distributed roughly €74 billion to more than 150,000 scientists over the past seven years.
Ehler, a German and one of the most influential MEPs on research and innovation funding, said the new €95.5 billion scheme (in current prices) will help fuel scientific discovery in the difficult years following the pandemic. The investment also represents “the last chance that Europe has to catch up with the digital revolution,” he said.