University heads ask MEPs to restore ‘sufficient’ EU R&D budget

European Council has ‘shattered’ hopes for funding basic and targeted research, say rectors

European university rectors are calling on the European Parliament to try to raise EU funding for R&D and higher education in the bloc’s 2021-27 budget.

In a joint statement published on 18 August, 23 national rectors’ conferences said draft budget proposals had “fostered the illusion that the overall R&D budget…could be maintained at a sufficient level”, but that this illusion had been “shattered” by the budget position adopted by national leaders in the European Council on 21 July.