In an agreement published on 28 May, some €2.2 billion (?1.58 billion) will be taken from the EU's Horizon 2020 research programme to fund a new European Fund for Strategic Investment Fund, less than the €2.7 billion originally proposed.

The revised deal followed all-night negotiations in Brussels, which saw funding for the European Research Council and Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions, an early career researcher fellowship scheme, ring-fenced.

It follows a period of intense lobbying? to protect the six-year €80 billion Horizon 2020 settlement, which is used to fund research across the continent, after European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker put forward plans to use its fund for a jobs creation scheme.

That would have resulted in a 3 per cent cut in EU grants, from which the UK was predicted to receive about ?2 billion in the next two years.

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This would have been on top of a 7 per cent like-for-like research funding under Horizon 2020 compared with the previous six-year framework, university leaders said.

Some 50 senior university leaders travelled to Brussels in April to lobby against the potential 10 per cent cuts in the largest-ever overseas delegation of vice-chancellors.

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Catherine Bearder, a Liberal Democrat MEP who tabled a parliamentary question on the potential impact of the loss of funds, said the scaling back of cuts ¡°is a victory for the European Parliament and for science in Europe.¡±

But questions remained over the impact the remaining cuts will have, she added.

¡°The Commission must explain how it will ensure that these cuts do not undermine the EU's competitiveness and long-term economic future,¡± said Ms Bearder.

In a statement by the League of European Research Universities (LERU), which represents 21 leading universities across Europe, said it was ¡°relieved¡± that no money would be taken from the ERC or Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions.

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¡°Nonetheless, LERU maintains its original position: it is a bad and wrong signal, one year after the launch of Horizon 2020, that €2.2 billion is plundered from its budget,¡± it said.

¡°The daily rhetoric about investments in research & innovation has a very cynical ring to it¡±.

It also condemned the ¡°terrible democratic and?legislative procedure¡± which saw the Juncker plans fast-tracked, saying the ¡°principles of good governance have been heavily violated in this process¡±.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com