The European Union budget includes €70.2 billion ($91.9 billion) for the Horizon 2020 research funding scheme, ScienceInsider reports. This is, it adds, a 23 percent increase from the Framework Programme 7 budget.
Still, a larger budget had been sought by the European Parliament and the European Commission, €100 billion and €70.2 billion, respectively. "But with crisis-stricken EU countries tightening their belts, the Parliament accepted a smaller budget and pushed through other demands, including more flexible spending rules," ScienceInsider adds.
The seven-year funding scheme is to take effect next year and run through 2020. The program budget for 2014 is pegged at €8.8 billion and will rise for each subsequent year.
Member states and the European Parliament plenary must still agree to the budget, but ScienceInsider reports that the budget negotiators are confident that they will accept it.