EU and the UK
date: 10/01/2020
“Old friends – new beginnings”: the EU is ready to design a new, unprecedented partnership
On Wednesday, 8 January European President von der Leyen met with Prime Minister Boris Johnson at No 10 to frame the forthcoming discussions on the future relationship between the EU and the UK. Both leaders agreed that the EU and the UK share common values and many interests, and that there are many areas where cooperation on the global stage will be invaluable, such as climate change, human rights, security, etc. President von der Leyen stressed the EU fully respects the decision by the UK to leave the EU, but the decision brings with it consequences, as no relationship can be as close as being a member of the EU.
Earlier in the day, the President addressed students at the London School of Economics outlining some broad ideas about building a future EU-UK partnership after the UK leaves the European Union. The President said: “We are ready to design a new partnership with zero tariffs, zero quotas, zero dumping. A partnership that goes well beyond trade and is unprecedented in scope. Everything from climate action to data protection, fisheries to energy, transport to space, financial services to security. And we are ready to work day and night to get as much of this done within the timeframe we have.” However, she also warned that the path ahead is not going to be easy: “Without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritise. The European Union's objectives in the negotiation are clear. We will work for solutions that uphold the integrity of the EU, its single market and its Customs Union. There can be no compromise on this.”
Latest news on the Article 50 negotiations can be found here
UK-based researchers most successful recipients of ERC grant funding
On 10 January, the Commission announced 11 UK-based researchers will each receive a €150,000 European Research Council proof of concept grant to help them put their new discoveries into practice. Innovations include social wearable sensors to support engagement and learning in children with autism and learning difficulties (UCL) and graphene-based adaptive thermal shields for satellites (University of Manchester). Researchers can use the additional money to investigate business opportunities, establish intellectual property rights or conduct technical validation for their frontier research findings. Altogether, 76 EU researchers will share a cash injection totalling €11.4 million.
The announcement completes the third and final round of the 2019 ERC proof of concept grant competition which had an overall budget of €30 million. Of the 498 proposals evaluated, two hundred grants were awarded to researchers working in 22 countries. Most grants were awarded to UK based researchers (34), followed by The Netherlands (24) and Italy (20).