LERU wrote this policy brief to urge the Heads of State and Government to take hard decisions needed to secure Europe’s future economic prosperity and competitiveness against an extremely challenging internal and external environment during their meeting about the global EU budget 2014-2020. In this policy brief LERU recommends the Heads of State and Government e.g. to continue their substantial investment in European research and innovation capabilities and emphasises the importance of the proposed R&I budget of €80 billion by the European Commission in 2011 for Horizon 2020.