Pro-ERC petition closes in on 4,000 signatures

Initiative seeks secure funding for European Research Council

A petition calling for the budget of the European Research Council, the EU’s flagship research funder, to be protected in the bloc’s 2021-27 R&D programme has picked up more than 3,700 signatures in about three weeks.

The petition, launched by a group calling itself Friends of the ERC, warns that there is “significant reason to fear a cut across all areas” of the Horizon Europe programme, in light of the direction of negotiations on the EU’s 2021-27 budget.