Commission justifies EU research spending

The European Commission has issued a statement justifying the need to finance research and innovation at the EU level, saying that such spending is vital to reach Europe’s target for total R&D expenditure.

Achieving the target—to spend 3 per cent of EU gross domestic product on research and development by 2020—would strengthen Europe’s economy and create an estimated €800 billion in additional annual economic activity, the Commission said. In the statement, commissioners underlined that EU heads of state had agreed to maintain and increase investments at the European Council meeting in February this year.