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The EU Research team take a look at current events in the scientific news

New European Commission is approved by European Parliament with a focus on Research and Development Ursula von der Leyen wants science to be ‘at the heart’ of the EU economy. Here’s a look at the commissioners who will drive that ambition. After weeks of haggling among political groups, the European Parliament has finally approved a new team of commissioners, to be led by returning European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. They will take office on 1 December. In a speech to the Parliament on Wednesday, von der Leyen emphasised the crucial role of research and innovation in her new mandate, announcing a plan to close the EU’s innovation gap with the US and China. Research and innovation will be placed “at the heart of our economy,” she said. But how will her new team of commissioners achieve that? Over the past few weeks, we have combed through official plans for each commissioner and listened to what they had to say during hearings in the Parliament. Here’s a roundup of the main ideas, plans and strategies for research and innovation and for Framework Programme 10 (FP10). For now, the new commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation has diffused fears that research funding will be merged in a mega competitiveness fund. She told MEPs the development of the next Framework Programme will be a “top priority” of her mandate. In written responses to questions from the European Parliament published ahead of her hearing on 5 November, Zaharieva laid out her preliminary vision for “a new and strengthened Framework Programme 10”, drawing on the recent Draghi report on EU competitiveness and the conclusions of the Commission’s independent FP10 advisory group. During her hearing, Zaharieva promised to radically simplify the EU Framework Programme and make it more attractive for start-ups and SMEs to take part. Simplification was a common thread in Zaharieva’s answers. She noted that a simpler, easier to use Framework Programme would speed things up and reduce the time from application to grant agreement, which currently stands at nearly 12 months. Zaharieva said she “really like[s]” the proposal by the Heitor group on FP10, of introducing a “trust first, evaluate later” principle, to simplify and shorten the application process. She is also in favour of lump-sum funding, two concrete examples of how the application process can be simplified. From 2025, Zaharieva wants to trial a two-stage application process to reduce application times. The first phase will be “focused on the core of the project”, with more documents to be provided if a project

progresses to stage two. Zaharieva is also in favour of double-blind evaluation, a process which would reduce the odds of evaluation bias. This was already the subject of a pilot project currently being evaluated by the Commission. Piotr Serafin, Commissioner for budget, anti-fraud and public administration, has played down rumours circulating in Brussels and denied reports the Commission is planning a complete overhaul of the EU budget, but has said there should be fewer funds and that these should be linked to national reforms.

New European Commissioner for Energy commits €1.25 billion for cross-border energy infrastructure Dan Jørgensen, the new European Commissioner for Energy pushes ‘Green Transition’ and is more open to nuclear in a bid to end Russian fuel ties for good. The European Commission has announced nearly €1.25 billion in grants under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) to support 41 cross-border energy infrastructure projects. These initiatives, designated as Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) and Projects of Mutual Interest (PMIs), aim to enhance energy market integration and support the EU’s decarbonisation goals. This funding round, the largest under the current CEF Energy programme, surpasses the initial budget of €850 million. It also marks the first call under the revised Trans-European Networks for Energy (TEN-E) Regulation, which now includes hydrogen and offshore electricity grid projects. A significant portion of the funding—nearly €750 million—will go towards eight electricity grid projects. The largest grant, €645 million, will fund the Bornholm Energy Island project, a hybrid interconnector in the Baltic Sea linking Denmark and Germany while integrating 3 GW of offshore wind capacity. Another €33 million will support Danube InGrid, a smart electricity project between Hungary and Slovakia. Hydrogen infrastructure will receive over €250 million for 21 development studies, supporting projects across multiple EU countries,

including the BarMar-H2med initiative between Spain and France and hydrogen corridors in the Baltic region. Meanwhile, €250 million will go towards CO2 infrastructure, with €120 million allocated to Greece’s Prinos storage facility, €55 million for the North Sea L10 storage project, and nearly €12 million for Denmark’s Norne CO2 facility. Dan Jørgensen is making it his “main priority” to craft a plan that will finally sever all European Union energy links with Russia. In his first interview since taking office as the EU’s new energy chief, Jørgensen warned that the EU is faltering in its multiyear campaign to shun Russian fuel and needed a plan to get things back on track. He pointed to the EU’s rising purchases of Russian liquified natural gas as a particular concern — and a reverse of the bloc’s downward trajectory. Additionally, five EU countries still rely on Russia for nuclear fuel. Following a positive vote by Member States on January 28, 2025, formal adoption of the funding decision is expected in the coming weeks. The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) will finalise grant agreements with beneficiaries. The next CEF Energy funding call is scheduled for 2025.

A leaked memo suggested all research and innovation funds managed by Brussels, could be subsumed into a single European Competitiveness Fund. But Serafin denied the existence of such a plan. “Up until now there is no proposal of the European Commission for the future multiannual financial framework. Whatever you have read in the press, it is not the proposal of the Commission for the next MFF.” Von der Leyen has promised to propose a new Competitiveness Fund to support strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, clean tech and biotech. The Commission is still debating the form this fund will take, Serafin said, but the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) launched earlier this year provides a glimpse of what could be expected. The new commissioner for tech sovereignty, security and democracy has revealed she is drawing up a Quantum Act to pull together fragmented research efforts by member states. Henna Virkkunen argued that quantum technologies are a European strength, but that EU legislation is needed to consolidate individual member state programmes. Virkkunen didn’t explicitly say what aspects of quantum technology she wants to boost, but talked of introducing a “quantum chips act”, suggesting that she primarily has quantum computing in her sights. The proposal for an act takes up a suggestion made in September by the European Liberal Forum, a think tank affiliated to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe parliamentary bloc, when it warned that member states are duplicating quantum computing research, not investing enough, and need big spending on quantum computing infrastructure.

EU Research