Why the UK is returning to Horizon Europe

The long-awaited return

The UK has reached a deal to rejoin the European Union's £85 billion ($120 billion) science research funding programme, EU Horizon. The deal was signed after a call between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday evening.

The UK will also rejoin the EU's Copernicus Earth Observation Satellite Programme, which has been crucial in monitoring weather events this summer, including wildfires across Europe, according to a Downing Street statement.

Britain's re-entry into the Horizon Europe program is seen as a political victory for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Photo: WSJ

The EU has also agreed to the UK's proposal not to rejoin the Euratom Programme (a supplementary funding programme to Horizon Europe, which covers nuclear research and innovation). Instead, the UK will pursue a domestic fusion energy strategy.

For its part, the European Commission (EC) said: “Today’s agreement remains fully consistent with the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The UK will be required to make financial contributions to the EU budget and will be subject to all the safeguards of the TCA.”

The UK will contribute an average of £2.6bn a year to Horizon Europe and Copernicus, starting from January 2024. Downing Street said this would also “provide space to promote the participation of UK researchers to conduct fundraising activities before we start paying into the programme”.

Joy for the scientific community

The agreement to bring the UK back into Horizon Europe is a move that has been welcomed by the UK scientific community, which has benefited greatly from this funding. Prime Minister Sunak also said last Thursday that British scientists can start applying for EU Horizon funding.

“We have worked with our EU partners to ensure that this is the right deal for the UK, opening up fantastic research opportunities and also the right deal for UK taxpayers,” Mr Sunak added.

Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society for the Advancement of Natural Knowledge, (the UK's national science academy, or simply the Royal Society), described the announcement as “great news not just for the UK but for scientists across the EU and for all Europeans”.

“There will be a huge relief for the research community that the uncertainty of the last two and a half years has ended,” said Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research UK, the world’s largest cancer research organisation based in London.

“Nearly three-quarters of cancer researchers who responded to our survey said EU funding was important to their work. This shows how important the return to Horizon Europe is for the future of cancer research,” added Michelle Mitchell.

Since Britain left Horizon Europe, the government has approved more than 2,000 grants worth £1.05 billion to help researchers stay funded, according to figures from the Wall Street Journal. And that funding expires this month.

Signs of thawing

The UK’s return to EU science programmes could be seen as a sign of healing after Brexit, which saw the UK leave the bloc in 2020. At that time, with the UK’s “divorce” from the EU, the country was also excluded from the Horizon Europe programme for three years.

The UK was originally scheduled to return to the programme in February 2023, once the Windsor Framework had been agreed, but negotiations were still ongoing over the exact financial terms, leading to a period of pessimism among the UK scientific community about Horizon Europe.

Before Brexit, the UK was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Horizon Europe. Photo: Guardian

But now the ice has thawed, with Europe also welcoming Britain back. “The EU and the UK are important strategic partners and allies, and today’s agreement proves that,” said EC President Ursula von der Leyen. “We will continue to be at the forefront of global research and science.”

Natalie Loiseau, a French MEP and one of the leaders of the UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Council, also expressed optimism after the event. Speaking to The Guardian, Loiseau said the agreement was a sign of “a restored atmosphere of trust”.

Britain's re-entry into Horizon is a political victory for Prime Minister Sunak, who has tried to improve the UK's relationship with Europe without causing any major opposition within his Conservative Party, political analysts say.

The efforts to improve the situation come as a large part of the British public is regretting their vote to leave the EU, as they grapple with high inflation and the prospect of years of low growth. A YouGov poll in June found that if the Brexit referendum had been held last week, 55% of Britons would have voted to remain in the bloc.

However, despite all the Brexit regrets, the chances of the UK rejoining the EU anytime soon are slim, according to analysts. Instead, the focus is on making Brexit work as well as possible and limiting the economic damage from trade barriers with the UK's main trading partner.

Nguyen Khanh

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/vuong-quoc-anh-tro-lai-chuong-trinh-khoa-hoc-horizon-europe-dau-hieu-han-gan-sau-brexit-post264011.html