Israel and the EU agree on Horizon 2020 compromise

Israel and the EU agree on Horizon 2020 compromise 

Israel Chris Emb Jeru.  27-Nov-13 

Diplomats from Israel and the EU came to an arrangement late Tuesday which will allow the Jewish State to participate in the EU’s prestigious, €80 billion Horizon 2020 R&D program. The diplomats agreed that on documents relating to projects that Israel is involved with, the EU would state that it does not recognize the legitimacy of West Bank settlements, while Israel will write in an appendix that it does not accept this. Various legal checks and balances have also been agreed to which will prevent monies from Horizon 2020 projects to be funneled to Israeli settlements in the West Bank, on the Golan Heights or in the eastern neighborhoods of Jerusalem. “It is good for both of us that this compromise proposal was reached, and we are happy this is behind us and common sense prevailed,” one Israeli official said. 

“In light of the global world we live in and the quality of Israeli researchers, it is very important to develop and maintain our relationship with the academic, scientific and research community in the world,” added Manuel Trajtenberg, chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel.