French EU Council Presidency: Priorities in the field of research

At the beginning of the year, France took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union (which rotates among EU member states) for six months.

In this context, the French government has published a program regarding the priorities of its EU Council Presidency - with the following objectives in the area of research and innovation:

• Promoting synergies between higher education, research and innovation in Europe, especially in view of the European Higher Education Strategy of the EU Commission (expected in January 2022)
• Strengthening the (international) attractiveness of Europe as a research hub by supporting the career perspectives of researchers and by further developing the initiative on European Universities
• Supporting the implementation of the ERA Policy Agenda (for a renewed European Research Area) as well as a proposal (by the EU Commission) for a true European Innovation Area.
• Connecting of European, national and local inputs for the implementation of Horizon Europe missions and consideration of appropriate synergies with other funding programs

In the second half of 2022, the Czech Republic will assume the EU Council Presidency, followed by Sweden in the first half of 2023. Together with France, these countries will form a trio presidency.

Further information can be found here.

Source: KoWi