EU taps natural resources budget to fund Iter

EU member states and the European Parliament have reached a last-minute agreement on plugging Iter’s €1.3 billion funding gap for the next two years using unspent money from the Natural Resources budget.

The deal to fund Iter, an experimental fusion reactor being built in Cadarache, France, was sealed on 1 December after the Polish presidency sent a negotiating team to the Parliament, which together with the European Commission must agree the budget. This agreement completes the overall 2012 budget for Euratom, of which the EU contribution to Iter is part.