I’m glad it will be able to proceed without any more hold-ups. However the reference saying some of the money will be coming out of the current (FP7) EU research budget will inevitably mean less available for other research.
In the grand scheme of things though the 10billion or so going to ITER over many years is a drop in the ocean compared to the size of the commercial energy market. Its small even in terms of public finances considering the cost is spread amongst lots of countries (creating jobs & tax revenue back in the process). If industry put even a fraction of a percent into research they could build 10 ITER size projects without even noticing.
People (ie politicians, campaign groups etc) keep on going on about how important energy is, but nobody is putting money where there mouth is. We really need to get to the point where the energy industry invests even 2% of its turnover in R&D rather than the tiny fraction it does now.