Responding to the EU-UK Statement following today’s (15 June) High Level Meeting between Prime Minister Johnson and Presidents of the European Council, European Commission and European Parliament, the President of the Academy, Professor Sir Robert Lechler PMedSci, said:
“With only 6 months to go until the end of the transition period, it is now absolutely vital that rapid progress is made towards agreeing a mutually beneficial future relationship between the UK and EU. In medical research, close partnership is clearly in the best interests of both researchers and patients in the UK and in EU Member States.
“I sincerely hope that the renewed negotiation schedule set out today will provide the impetus to agree a partnership that will allow UK and EU researchers to collaborate with ease. Securing closest possible UK participation in Horizon Europe must be central to this.
“The present pandemic has shown us that health security is a global issue and that finding solutions requires international partnership. Facilitating this collaboration must surely be one of the principles that should underlie our future agreement.”
ENDS