EU budget deal sparks faint cheer after ‘foolish annual battle’ over R&D spending

Agreement on 2023 funding gives with one hand, but takes away with the other

A last-minute EU deal has avoided an overall cut to the Horizon Europe funding programme, but research leaders expressed regret that big potential spending increases did not materialise and some budgets will be raided to pay for communication satellites.

Every year research is an area of major disagreement as EU institutions argue over the next year’s spending for the bloc.