The European Parliament stepped up pressure for a preliminary deal on Horizon Europe, the European Union’s planned €94.1 billion research and innovation programme.
A pair of MEPs handling the draft legislation said they presented the EU Council’s Romanian presidency with a raft of concessions and demands, in their latest negotiating session 7 March. They said their aim is to break the political stalemate over the programme, in hopes of a deal when they meet again on 14 March.
The proposal, which they did not publish, was put together by MEPs Christian Ehler of Germany and Dan Nica of Romania, the Horizon rapporteurs.
The negotiators are striving to reach agreement on the basic structure of Horizon Europe before Parliament is dissolved for the May elections, so that the Commission has time to prepare the complex programme’s start in 2021.