Innovation Commissioner Ivanova: ‘Funding cuts in EU research are a red flag’

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Yet the EU has just agreed to cut the programme’s budget by €2.1 billion, as part of the re-negotiation of the EU’s long-term budget, and continuing aid to Ukraine. Paradoxically, the cut comes as the EU says it wants to boost its competitiveness in the world. “I cannot be happy about that,” Iliana Ivanova tells Talking Europe. The EU’s commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, speaks to Armen Georgian about the future of Horizon, as well as about efforts to boost educational performance, and to fight disinformation in the education system across the EU. Ivanova is about to visit London and Edinburgh as the UK joins Horizon Europe under a new deal, which she calls “a win for both sides.” On Horizon losing €2.1 billion out of its €95.5 billion budget, Ivanova laments that “we are reducing the most important investment for the future, which is research and innovation. €95.5 billion is a big number, but it is actually not that much compared to our competitors.” Ivanova says the current cut (which has been agreed by EU member states) is “a red flag. We badly need to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the current spending, and to secure the financial support for the next framework programme. I’m in discussions with (EU) ministers, especially the finance ministers, and I hope it's realised soon that this is a strategically important investment to make.”Ivanova admits she is concerned about educational performance in the EU. “I'm worried for the whole of Europe. If we speak about education and the level of basic skills, and if you look at the latest PISA (OECD) results, you can see that there is no improvement in any member state. I was recently in Sweden and we discussed that even there, they are worried about the level of reading and writing skills, and mathematics comprehension. So this is something I'm very concerned about. And obviously we have limited competence at the European level but we will be working very hard with the member states to address that issue.”Also related to education, Ivanova addresses the issue of disinformation, which she considers “crucial” in an EU election year. Countering disinformation “should start from a very early age,” she says. “It should start from the family with us as parents. It is our responsibility to educate our children, to give them the tools to make the difference between good and bad. And then, of course, the role of the school and education is essential here. We are providing teachers with a number of instruments to help them build the necessary knowledge. Things are evolving very fast and fake news are spreading with much more innovative methods daily. So teachers need to have that constant training that we are providing, while also updating the school curricula to improve the digital literacy of the young kids.”On the UK joining the Horizon Europe programme three years after Brexit, Ivanova states, “I'm going to London to officially launch the association of the UK to Horizon Europe.  I'm very happy because I think it's a renaissance in our relationship. I’m looking forward to a real win-win for both sides, as we know the many success stories throughout the years. With that cooperation, I'm also visiting Scotland; the University of Edinburgh. 177 countries have been participating in Horizon Europe, and I cannot think of another programme in the world that has offered so many opportunities for researchers.”Programme produced by Sophie Samaille, Yi Song, Perrine Desplats and Agnès Le Cossec