Horizon 2020 in line to start on time after €70B package agreed - Science|Business

"It’s taken two and a half years of negotiation, but now a circa €70 billion package has been agreed by the Council and the European Parliament for Horizon 2020, Europe’s flagship R&D programme for 2014 - 2020.  While this needs to be approved by the institutions as a whole, interest groups welcome the progress as a sign that Horizon 2020 will start on time in January 2014. 'It really was time to wrap up the negotiations in order to have a smooth transition from Framework Programme 7 to Horizon 2020,' said Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General of The League of European Research Universities (LERU). 'It was unthinkable that we would have to go to a second reading of the texts,' he said. Many of the Parliament’s amendments form part of the latest package, but the Council held on to its restrained budget. 'The Parliament finally gave up on the unrealistic demands of different funding rates for different projects', said Deketelaere, adding, 'and the Council showed a lot of flexibility in agreeing with the Parliament on almost everything else.' But the Horizon 2020 package awaits agreement on the EU’s overall budget, and Željko Pazin, Executive Director of the European Factories of the Future Research Associations (EFFRA) says this is vital to, 'allow for a smooth start to Horizon 2020 in 2014' ..."