On July 1, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia (FYROM), Moldova, Montenegro and Serbia signed association agreements in Brussels securing full access to the European Union’s new seven-year research and innovation program called Horizon 2020 (H2020).
The European Commission expects that the agreements will result in increased cooperation in research and innovation, business development, new job opportunities, economic growth and further integration of the participating countries into the European Research Area. The H2020 research budget is about EUR 78 billion.
The six countries have already participated in similar EU-funded programs, most recently in the seventh framework program (FP7), which lasted for seven years and ended in 2013. During that time, the mentioned countries participated as follows:
Albania – 35 projects; EUR 2.4 million
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 45 projects; EUR 3.1 million
Macedonia (FYROM) – 105 projects; EUR 11.5 million
Montenegro – 52 projects; EUR 4.2 million
Serbia – 307 projects, EUR 53.2 million
Moldova – 55 projects, EUR 3.9 million
Even though the agreements were officially signed this month, they will apply retroactively from January 1, 2014, which is the official start of the program that will last until 2020.
With the six newcomers, 10 countries have joined the H2020 program so far, including Iceland, Norway, Turkey and Israel.
Source: European commission
