Good morning
On 10 November, the Commission welcomed the agreement between the European Parliament and EU Member States in the Council on Europe's next long-term budget and Next Generation EU, the temporary recovery instrument. This agreement includes a targeted reinforcement of EU programmes, including an additional €4bn for Horizon Europe and €2.2bn for Erasmus+ together with €0.6bn in support of Creative Europe.
The positive outcome of the negotiations are a great success and I am glad that research and innovation, education and culture will continue to play their crucial role in the recovery. Once adopted, the package of a total of €1.8 trillion will be the largest package ever financed through the EU budget.
On 25 November, I attended the meeting of the Commission for Social Policy, Education, Employment, Research and Culture (SEDEC) of the Committee of the Regions (CoR). Regions and cities play an essential role in achieving our green and digital transitions.
I announced together with the CoR President Apostolos Tzitzikostas the first Joint Action Plan between the Commission and the Committee of the Regions in the fields of science, innovation, education and culture. The Joint Action Plan and the relaunched Knowledge Exchange Platform work plan are the building blocks of our European Knowledge strategy. They focus on concrete solutions to improve citizens’ lives.
I also welcome the joint opinion on pandemic preparedness and management published by the European Commission’s independent Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (GCSA), the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) and Peter Piot, special advisor to President Ursula von der Leyen on the response to COVID-19.
The advisors provide a detailed analysis of the many challenges we have been facing these past months and give clear recommendations on how we can best move forward together. Only if we join forces and follow scientific and ethical advice can we recover from this pandemic and ensure we are prepared for the future.
The Commission continues to support research addressing the coronavirus pandemic and its effects, with a total of €128 million for 23 new research projects. The projects involve 344 research teams from 39 countries, including 32 participants from 15 countries outside of the EU.
The funding will enable essential research to better address various aspects of this and future pandemics, from the capacity to react more quickly to prevent contagion, to improving diagnosis and treatment, to better mitigation measures that take into account behavioural, social and economic aspects, including gender-related issues.
On 13 November, the Commission awarded a grant of €1 million under the Emergency Support Instrument to support a clinical trial for repurposing the osteoporosis medicine Raloxifene. The medicine has been identified by the Horizon 2020 Exscalate4CoV supercomputing platform as a promising molecule to treat patients suffering from COVID-19. The trial will involve 450 participants and will assess the efficacy and safety of Raloxifene, as well as its ability to prevent the replication of the virus in cells and reduce the mean time of viral shedding in COVID-19 patients who do not yet show severe symptoms.
I am proud that the EU continues to invest in our long-term future by supporting the most exceptional researchers. By taking the long view, we are strengthening Europe’s position as a global research powerhouse. Proof of that is the latest Synergy Grants from the European Research Council - EUR 350 million in total - that will help 34 research groups address some of the world’s most formidable research problems, spanning multiple scientific disciplines.
In line with the European Research Council’s global outlook, two new initiatives were recently launched with Japan and India. This is excellent news as it encourages top researchers from these great science nations to undertake research visits in Europe, joining ERC-funded teams. Both sides have a lot to gain from it, as collaboration across borders and continents is now more essential than ever.
On 24 November, I had the honour to attend the French National Assembly to inform on the results of the agreement reached on the future Multiannual Financial Framework on 10 November, explain its impact on the programmes in my portfolio and present the latest novelties. I am very grateful to the European Affairs and Cultural Affairs and Education Committees for their invitation to this enriching exchange of views.
On 27 November, I attended the video conference of research ministers. Ministers exchanged views on the new research and development (R&D) investment targets that we proposed in our communication of 30 September 2020: "A new ERA for Research and Innovation". Together with the Presidency we also informed ministers of recent progress on open science initiatives: the European Open Science Cloud and the Open Science Policy Platform, as well as the state of play on European institutionalised partnerships and the latest joint scientific opinion on improving pandemic preparedness and management.
I also welcome the report by international experts with recommendations for the successful implementation of the European Innovation Council on the research (EIC Pathfinder) phase and management of portfolios to increase the impact from research results to market.
On 9 November, I participated in the Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting in the framework of the Berlin Process. I was glad to present the Western Balkans Agenda on innovation, research, education, culture, youth and sports and how it can create new opportunities for students, researchers, innovators and cultural operators in the region. On 10 November, at the Sofia Summit of the Berlin Process, the Leaders signed a Declaration on the Green Agenda and on the Common Regional Market, which referred to the important role of innovation in moving towards a sustainable economy. The Western Balkans Agenda will play a key and enabling role in this process.
On 10 November, I had the pleasure to virtually meet with the Vice Premier of the Peoples’ Republic of China, Ms Sun Chunlan, and senior officials during the 5th EU-China High-Level People-to-People Policy Dialogue. The meeting offered a fruitful opportunity to exchange on the topics of cooperation between Europe and China and European policy priorities for the five areas of people-to-people exchanges: mobility, gender, youth, sport and culture.
I remain deeply committed to the cause of sport in Europe. The whole sector has been severely hit by the crisis, with empty stadiums and major sports events being cancelled. On 17 November, I invited Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, Jean Gracia, Vice President of European Athletics, Ministers and representatives of international and European sport organisations and of the sport industry to join me at a high level conference analysing the impact of the pandemic on European sport and to discuss its future. We intend to make funding opportunities available and sufficiently flexible. We will also ensure that information on long-term emergency planning is shared across the sector.
On 16 November, I participated in the 17th Vienna Economic Forum – Vienna Future Dialogue 2020. The special online edition '90 minutes with the European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel' was dedicated to 'New types of mobility in a digital world: challenges and opportunities for the regional economy'. I was also honoured to receive the Forum’s ‘Partner of the Year 2020’ award for my efforts to promote and foster regional socio-economic cooperation. Here are some photos from the event:
It was my great pleasure to open the second edition of the European Digital Education Hackathon (DigiEduHack 2020), one of the actions of our Digital Education Action Plan, on 12 November. The Hackathon inspires cooperation, innovation and co-creation, and I am pleased that it has become one of the EU's flagship initiatives in the field of digital education.
Given their significantly increased importance, I am glad that digital education and digital competence is the leading theme of the 2020 Education and Training Monitor, the Commission’s flagship report analysing the development of education and training in Europe, which was published on 12 November.
Europe’s parents played a big role in helping children keep up with schooling online during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring, according to a Joint Research Centre analysis published in November. Families were surveyed in several EU countries as part of a project mapping the evolution of children's digital engagement during these times. The results show how important digital skills are at this time, both for parents and children.
On 19 November, I participated in the European Cancer Summit 2020, where I opened the session “Mission-Driven Cancer Research: All Together as One”. Cancer represents a huge burden to our society and healthcare system, and drastically changes the lives of patients and their families, friends and caregivers. With the Mission on Cancer and Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, we will join forces all over Europe to reverse this.
The fight against cancer remains a top priority and the Commission aims to adopt Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan in January 2021. On 22 September, during the European Research and Innovation Days 2020, the Mission Board handed over their advice to the Commission. It includes 13 bold recommendations and the target is clear and ambitious: “By 2030: more than 3 million lives saved, living longer and better”. The Commission has supported cancer research and innovation for many years. With Horizon 2020 we have provided €2 billion to help fund more than 1400 projects on cancer.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that the new European Youth portal is now online: a precious tool to discover more about the opportunities the EU offers to young Europeans – in 28 languages. Through the portal it is possible to interact with peers, participate in democratic discussions on the topics that matter most to our youth, and find out more about programmes and initiatives to study, train and volunteer abroad, such as Erasmus Plus, Discover EU and the European Solidarity Corps. I invite all of you to explore the new portal here.
With best wishes for the month ahead,
Mariya Gabriel
