Horizon Europe Debate
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Earl of Kinnoull
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Horizon Europe
Earl of Kinnoull Excerpts(2 years, 9 months ago)
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The Earl of Kinnoull (CB)
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, referred to our letter. Our letter came after an evidence session, when it was clear that it was mutually harmful to science communities of the UK and Europe not to have the UK participating in the programme. That is not surprising, because the joint declaration, which is the foundation of this agreement, says:
“The Parties recognise the mutual benefit”.
Can the Minister assure us that both parties understand that there is a mutual harm in the programme not starting with UK participation?
Lord Callanan (Con)
I agree totally with the noble Earl that it is to the benefit of both parties. It provides value for money for the UK, which is why we agreed to associate with it. We thought that we had a legally binding agreement with the EU, as part of the trade and co-operation agreement. We will continue to try to unblock that and work towards agreement. We want to associate with it precisely because we think that it is to the benefit of both parties, and we hope that will be obvious to the EU as well.