London will Monday (7 November) urge Brussels to unblock access to European scientific programmes for British researchers, which it says is provided for in the post-Brexit trade deal.
Britain says it has been excluded from the bloc’s flagship Horizon Europe programme that funds research, nuclear regulator Euratom and the Copernicus satellite monitoring group.
London considers the delay to be a breach of the post-Brexit deal.
British minister for Europe, Leo Docherty, will tell European officials that the delay is causing “intolerable uncertainty” for businesses.
He will be speaking at the Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) on Monday — an assembly between representatives from the European Union and the UK to monitor post-Brexit trade and cooperation.
“The UK’s participation would be a clear win-win for the UK and the EU, but the UK cannot wait much longer,” Docherty will say, according to an advance copy of his speech.
“The EU’s approach is causing intolerable uncertainty for our research and business communities.”
In August Britain launched dispute procedures with the European Union over its exclusion from the bloc’s scientific research programmes, using a mechanism set out in a post-Brexit deal.
UK launches case against EU over Horizon shut-out
The UK on Wednesday (17 August) launched dispute proceedings against the EU over the long running stalemate that has kept UK universities and researchers shut out of the €95.5 billion Horizon Europe research programme two years after agreeing participation as part of the Brexit agreement.
These were the first such legal proceedings launched by the UK against the EU since Brexit.
The terms of the UK’s exit agreement with the EU allow it to participate in the Horizon Europe research fund and the Copernicus earth and space observation programme, in return for a contribution to the programme’s funding.
However, although both sides, and the European research community, believe that cooperation would be mutually beneficial, the European Commission has stated that the UK’s status in the Horizon and Copernicus programmes will not be confirmed until the long-running impasse over the Northern Ireland protocol is resolved.
The Brexit measures — which effectively keep Northern Ireland in the European Union’s single market and customs union — were agreed to avoid the return of a hard land border with the neighbouring Republic of Ireland, a EU member.
Britain’s Conservative government, which has been wracked by turmoil and had three prime ministers in two months, has urged Brussels to revise the protocol and is passing contentious legislation to rip it up.
Britain has previously threated to unilaterally modify it.
That has sparked fears of a trade war and worsening relations with Europe, when the economic landscape is already gloomy.
(Edited by Georgi Gotev)
Source: euractiv.com
