Moedas blasts national leaders over ‘terrible’ R&D budget stance

Two former commissioners slam Horizon Europe budget plan in joint opinion piece

Former European research and trade commissioners Carlos Moedas and Pascal Lamy have sharply criticised leaders of EU countries for their plan to allocate about €91 billion in current prices to Horizon Europe, the 2021-27 EU R&D programme.

In an opinion piece published on 30 September, the two former commissioners described the allocation, which would come as an €85.5bn budget and a €5.4bn top-up from a Covid-19 recovery fund, as a “U-turn” on previous momentum for a bigger budget. They derided it as a “terrible idea”.