European Commission keeps control of European Research Council

The European Research Council will remain under the wing of the European Commission in the next EU research-funding programme, albeit with a simpler structure and a stronger role for its president.

Under the Lisbon treaty, which entered into force in 2009, the EU is able to create more autonomous structures for bodies such as the ERC. But in a report released on 12 July, a task force in charge of reviewing ERC governance said it was “too early” to set up such a separate structure for the ERC outside the Commission. The possibility “is still untested and needs legislation around it”, said ERC president Helga Nowotny at a press briefing in Brussels on 12 July.