With Bulgarian MEP Petar Volgin from "Europe of Sovereign Nations" completed the first round of questions to the Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner with the portfolio "Startups, Research and Innovations" Ekaterina Zaharieva in Brussels. The hearing takes place in the “Jozef Antal” building. of the European Parliament in the Belgian capital.
Peter Volgin asked Ekaterina Zaharieva whether there is no risk that the military economy will become a motor in the sphere entrusted to it, and how he will be able to prevent it from becoming a sphere in which war will defeat peace.
“I strongly hope that peace will conquer war. Our security depends on Ukraine winning this war. I believe that the resources and efforts that we are putting into helping Ukraine win are not wasted money for us, they are investments in our security. "Ukraine is fighting for our security," replied the Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner. Her reaction was applauded in the hall.
The second round of questions to Ekaterina Zaharieva began with Eva Maydel from the EPP, who is also a member of the Committee on Industry, Scientific Research and Energy. Maydel noted that Europe is a scientific superpower and supported his claim with figures, giving examples that a third of the world's scientific publications come from the EU and that the union has a large number of Nobel Prize winners. However, Eva Meidel noted that as a continent, Europe lags behind in the field of competitiveness, if a comparison is made with the USA and China.
“Our main goal is to reach these countries. We currently have about 95 billion euros available for scientific research, with the most funds available in the “Horizon Europe” - over 53 billion euros”, the Bulgarian MEP from the EPP also informed. She asked Ekaterina Zaharieva if she has an idea how to reorient the funding so that the European economy can create innovations and stimulate economic growth.
“The big difference between us and the USA, but also Japan, as well as the countries close to us, is in private investments. Only 40 percent of European companies invest in research and innovation. In the USA, the share is 56 percent, it is even higher in Japan and South Korea,” answered the Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner. According to her, the EU should be more prioritized and focused.
“Pillar 2 lacks program focus. Complex management of the “Horizon Europe” program is also noted. and not an efficient enough system to measure the amount of private investment, the contribution of industry in this pillar. We need a better focus, a better mechanism and tools to create an incentive for the private sector to invest in innovation and science, Ekaterina Zaharieva stressed.
Three questions followed from the Bulgarian MEP Tsvetelina Penkova from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, who is also the vice-chairman of the committee. She asked Ekaterina Zaharieva at what stage the EC is in preparing a definition for start-ups, what are the specific legislative initiatives to retain young entrepreneurs in Europe and, apart from the current subsidies and loans, what additional financial mechanisms can be envisaged to private investment in the innovation and technology sector is encouraged.
“Without a legal definition of what a startup is, we cannot determine the scope of this regime”, replied Ekaterina Zaharieva. She commented that there needs to be an analysis of how many companies registered in Europe will be affected and expressed the opinion that there are serious problems with product testing in the European Innovation Act. She also outlined another problem, that Europe lags far behind the US in terms of public procurement. “Public procurement is almost never implemented,”, the Bulgarian candidate for European Commissioner also said.
The hearing procedure of Ekaterina Zaharieva in Brussels continues at the moment.