Fast and SME-Friendly Launch of Green Deal H2020 and Innovation Fund Calls
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Vice-President of the EU Commission Timmermans Commissioner Gabriel Commissioner Breton 7 June 2020 Fast and SME-friendly launch of Green Deal H2020 and Innovation Fund calls Dear Commissioners, We are writing to you concerning two upcoming EU funding opportunities: the “Green Deal call 2020” under the Horizon 2020 programme, and the first call of the Innovation Fund under the EU ETS. The current COVID-19 related economic crisis is hitting European small and medium companies and start-ups particularly hard. Small and recently founded businesses, which before the crisis were working on the development and upscaling of innovative and sustainable technologies and solutions, are now struggling to stay afloat. Their reduced liquidity and the decreased support from investors and partners may force these companies into the postponement of innovative projects or even worse into bankruptcy. Yet, Europe needs these companies, which are the lifeblood of our sustainable economy and competitiveness enabling Europe to achieve its ambitious Green Deal objectives. In the current situation, swift action is paramount for these SMEs and start-ups. The European Commission is taking a great number of important measures contributing to save companies and reboot their activities. In addition to the already adopted measures, we call on you to: 1. Bring forward the launch of the “Green Deal call 2020” to June. This call, with a 1 billion EUR budget, should provide support in the form of grants to innovative solutions and demonstrations in the priority areas of the Green Deal, such as clean energy, sustainable mobility, circular industry, etc. The launch of this call is planned for September with a deadline for submitting proposals in January 2021. We think this timeline should be accelerated, as small, new, innovative companies focusing on the creation of green solutions are in dire need of financial support to continue their projects right now. 2. Facilitate access by SMEs to the upcoming first call for projects of the Innovation Fund. This call is planned to be opened in June and will provide 1 billion EUR in the form of grants to innovative renewable energy, storage and other clean technology projects aimed at decarbonising the ETS sector. We urge you to design this call in a way that favours participation from small businesses. For instance, the minimum capital expenditure of the projects, currently set at 7.5 million EUR, could be removed or at least lowered. We trust you will consider our suggestions and we are available to discuss this urgent matter with you at your earliest convenience. Best regards, Henrike Hahn MEP, Greens/EFA; Patrizia Toia MEP, S&D Group; Pernille Weiss MEP, EPP Group; Sean Kelly MEP, EPP Group; Josianne Cutajar MEP, S&D Group; Martina Dlabajová MEP, RENEW Group Alviina Alametsä MEP, Greens/EFA Karima Delli MEP, Greens/EFA Katrin Langensiepen MEP, Greens/EFA Jutta Paulus MEP, Greens/EFA Sarah Wiener MEP, Greens/EFA Rasmus Andresen MEP, Greens/EFA Damian Boeselager, Greens/EFA Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Greens/EFA Yannick Jadot MEP, Greens/EFA Niklas Nienaß MEP, Greens/EFA Ville Niinistö MEP, Greens/EFA Group Mikulas Peksa MEP, Greens/EFA Mounir Satouri MEP, Greens/EFA Maria Carvalho MEP, EPP Frances Fitzgerald MEP, EPP Roberta Metsola MEP, EPP Massimiliano Salini MEP, EPP Inese Vaidere MEP, EPP Henna Virkkunen MEP, EPP Maria Walsh MEP, EPP Angelika Winzig MEP, EPP Herbert Dorfmann MEP, EPP Krzysztof Hetman MEP, EPP Radan Kanev MEP, EPP Manolis Kefalogiannis MEP, EPP Karlo Ressler MEP, EPP Petri Sarvamaa MEP, EPP Ivan Štefanec MEP, EPP Clara Aguilera MEP, S&D Brando Benifei MEP, S&D Miriam Dalli MEP, S&D Lina Galvez Munoz MEP, S&D Romana Jerković MEP, S&D Aurore Lalucq MEP, S&D Maria-Manuel Leitão-Marques MEP, S&D Adriana Maldonado Lopez MEP, S&D Victor Negrescu MEP, S&D Inma Rodriguez-Piñero MEP, S&D Isabel Santos MEP, S&D Alex Agius Saliba MEP, S&D Łukasz Kohut MEP, S&D Angel Marc MEP, S&D Alfred Sant MEP, S&D István Ujhelyi MEP, S&D Atidzhe Alieva-Veli MEP, RENEW Izaskun Bilbao Barandica MEP, RENEW Dita Charanzová MEP, RENEW Svenja Hahn MEP, RENEW Radka Maxová MEP, RENEW Karen Melchior MEP, RENEW Iskra Mihaylova MEP, RENEW Monica Semedo MEP, RENEW Barry Andrews MEP, RENEW Liesje Schreinemacher MEP, RENEW Vlad-Marius Botoş MEP, RENEW Olivier Chastel MEP, RENEW Nicola Danti MEP, RENEW Klemen Grošelj MEP, RENEW Christophe Grudler MEP, RENEW Ivars Ijabs MEP, RENEW Billy Kelleher MEP, RENEW Ondřej Kovařík MEP, RENEW Dragos Pãžslaru MEP, RENEW Ioan-Dragoş Tudorache MEP, RENEW Marie-Pierre Vedrenne MEP, RENEW.