#Romania2019.eu/Commissioner Carlos Moedas: I congratulate Romania for outstanding accomplishment, agreement on future Horizon Europe programme

European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas congratulated on Wednesday the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the agreement reached on the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2021-2027 - Horizon Europe. "I would like to congratulate Romania, to congratulate my colleague, Nicolae Hurduc, for you have succeeded in achieving something unique. This presidency has succeeded in reaching an agreement on the next Horizon Europe programme for science. It was a huge accomplishment and I know that a lot of work has been carried out at the ministry, at the Permanent Representation in Brussels and we will have the almost largest research programme so far. (...) From a historical point of view, this is a wonderful moment. You will see that during the Romanian Presidency this agreement has been one of the most important. I have to tell you that it was difficult to agree on this programme, Parliament was involved, the Member States, and the Presidency had to look for some common ground among all participants," the European Commissioner told a press conference held at the Parliament Palace following an informal meeting of the Ministers of Research and Innovation. He mentioned that 3 billion euro will be granted to countries with lower research and innovation performance. Carlos Moedas pointed out that one of the proposals for the future is that the funding of research programmes carried out by scientists can also be achieved through structural funds, not just through the Horizon Europe programme. He explained that the first pillar of the Horizon Europe programme will focus on the fundamental sciences, but that it will also focus on the collaborative groups between different subject areas designed to solve the problems that exist at global level. The Romanian Minister of Research and Innovation, Nicolae Hurduc, mentioned that the informal meeting held in Bucharest addressed measures to increase and expand scientific excellence at EU level, as well as scientific cooperation at the Black Sea basin level.AGERPRES(RO - author: Irinela Visan, editor: Andreea Rotaru; EN - author: Simona Iacob, editor: Maria Voican)