EU's participation in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA)
The Council and the Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the continuation of the EU's participation in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) under Horizon Europe for the period 2025-2027.
Even though PRIMA activities are foreseen until 31 December 2028, its last calls for proposals will be launched in 2024 under the Horizon 2020 framework, which means that PRIMA's active period was due to end in 2024. The participating states have expressed their interest in the continuation of PRIMA as an effective instrument to tackle multiple societal crises.
Today's agreement consists in an extension of the EU's participation in the partnership, without any changes to the scope. The duration of the EU's participation will be extended in line with the current framework programme for research and innovation – Horizon Europe – with a proportionally increased budget and adaptation to Horizon Europe rules.
PRIMA has become a crucial science diplomacy instrument for the EU towards North Africa and the Middle East. It is the research and innovation response to the numerous challenges in the Mediterranean area, such as making water provision and food systems more climate resilient, efficient, cost effective and environmentally and socially sustainable.
Diana Morant Ripoll, Spanish Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities
PRIMA's main aim is to pool the knowledge and financial resources of the EU and the participating states in order to build research activities and capacities and develop innovative solutions for sustainable and resilient water provision and food systems in the Mediterranean area.
Next steps
The provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament now needs to be endorsed and formally adopted by both institutions.
Background
The initial decision on the EU's participation in the PRIMA partnership was proposed in October 2016 and adopted on 4 July 2017. PRIMA is an initiative based on Article 185 TFEU, which means that it establishes a public-public partnership and therefore follows the ordinary legislative procedure. It was the first such partnership in the Mediterranean area, and – in contrast to other Article 185 initiatives under Horizon 2020 – had no legal predecessor.
PRIMA has 20 participating states: 12 EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain), 3 countries associated to Horizon 2020 (Israel, Tunisia and Türkiye) and 5 other third countries (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco). For the latter five to participate in PRIMA, the EU signed bilateral international agreements with them. PRIMA's total budget for 2017-2028 is €494 million, with €220 million coming from Horizon 2020, and €274 million from participating states.