Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe
The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by Maria da Graça CARVALHO (EPP, PT) on the proposal for a Council regulation establishing the Joint Undertakings under Horizon Europe.
The aim of the proposed regulation is to set up nine EU joint undertakings (JUs) for the implementation of institutionalised European partnerships. It determines their objectives and tasks, membership, organisation and other operating rules, including on transparency and accountability.
General objectives
The amended text stressed that the joint undertakings should deliver, inter alia, on the following general objectives:
- contribute to reducing the specific skills gap across the EU by raising awareness;
- reinforce and spread excellence, including by fostering wider participation and geographical diversity throughout the Union, including participation from Member States that are currently considered modest and moderate innovators;
- contribute to accelerating upskilling and reskilling of European workers and the participation of SMEs in the industrial ecosystems linked to the operations of the joint undertakings;
- facilitate the integration of relevant scientific and innovation competences across the Union into European research and innovation (R&I) ecosystems and value chains;
- deliver environmental, energy and resource saving, sustainable, societal and productivity, circularity improvements in new products, technologies, applications and services;
- contribute to bridging the gender gap in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in Europe as well as to mainstream gender in research outcomes developed by European partnerships, thus achieving a better alignment of European partnerships with the gender equality objectives;
- seek for possibilities to inform students who might wish to pursue a career in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics and in other areas related to the operational activities of the joint undertakings.
Specific measures
The report highlighted the following specific measures:
- reinforcing the scope and budget for Clean Aviation as clean and sustainable aviation is a vital element for Europe’s success;
- reinforcing the scope and budget for Global Health to develop new or improved health technologies;
- contributing to the reduction of the connectivity gap and focusing on emerging technologies and supporting the construction of the EU’s ecosystem for developing 5G and 6G technologies, application and services.
Governance
The governance of the JUs should be based on rules that enhance efficiency and ensure maximum administrative simplification; the evaluation process should be fully transparent, kept simple while ensuring synchronization of reporting and monitoring procedures. Simplification and workability should be the driving principles for management of all financial contributions from Participating States, which should entrust the JU with the evaluation of proposals, while keeping a right of veto on all issues concerning the use of its own national financial contributions.
Financing and synergies
The joint undertakings should be financed by the Union programmes under the MFF and, where applicable, by the Next Generation EU. The ratio of administrative costs to the total budget of each JU should be of a comparable value across the JUs. Members other than Union should agree among themselves on the fair distribution of their part of the administrative expenses of their joint undertakings.
The Commission is called on to develop clear, simple and concrete guidelines on the implementation of the different types of synergies by the joint undertakings, such as transfer of resources, alternative funding, cumulative funding and integrated funding.