Research Fund for Coal and Steel: research programme and multiannual technical and financial guidelines

The European Parliament adopted by 537 votes to 17, with 83 abstentions, a legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the adoption of the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, on the multiannual technical guidelines for this programme, on the multiannual financial guidelines for managing the assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, and repealing Decisions 2003/77/EC and 2008/376/EC.

Parliament approved the Council draft.

This draft Council establishes the Research Programme of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel and lays down the objectives of the Programme and its budget, the multiannual technical guidelines for the implementation of the Research Programme and the multiannual financial guidelines for managing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in liquidation and, on completion of the liquidation, the assets of the Research Fund for Coal and Steel.

The research programme:

- supports the competitiveness of sectors related to the coal and steel industry by providing support for collaborative research in those sectors, including on dual-use civil and military applications;

- supports clean steel breakthrough technologies, contributing to the objectives of climate neutrality in the Union, and reinforcing Union strategic autonomy across the steel value chain;

- supports research projects for managing the just transition of formerly operating coal mines or coal mines in the process of closure and related infrastructure and the regions in which they are located, particularly those facing significant social, economic or environmental challenges arising from the transition of the coal and steel sectors;

- promotes valorisation and innovation, including experimentation and piloting of new methods in order to strengthen the relevance of research results to the market and support their potential for scalable deployment. Research also promotes commercially viable and industrially scalable solutions.

The financial envelope of the Research Programme for the period 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2030 will consist of the following:

(a) any amounts of the annual allocation which were made available to the Research Fund for Coal and Steel as a result of the cancellation of budgetary commitments;

(b) any remaining assets and profits generated by remaining assets;

(c) the amounts of previous annual allocations not yet entered in the budget.

The financial envelope will be committed in its entirety through two work programmes covering the years 2027 to 2028 and 2029 to 2030. The work programmes will provide for yearly calls for proposals.

The draft decision sets out the multiannual technical guidelines for managing the assets.