Horizon 2020 has broken the funding application record of FP7: 140.000 funding applications have been submitted (see http://sciencebusiness.net/news/80171/Less-than-halfway-in-Horizon-2020-has-received-as-many-applications-as-FP7 ).
These high application rates imply that the overwhelming majority (nearly 90%) of funding applications never get any funding! As a result, low funding rates frustrate applicants, because preparing a proposal is a significant investment.
This claim of sciencebusiness.net is particularly interesting: “The figure also provides plenty of proof for the Commission’s claims that applying for Horizon 2020 grants requires less effort from researchers than previously.”
It is probably true that applying for Horizon 2020 became easier, however getting financing became more difficult. This is also an observation I made in relation to writing a book on Horizon 2020 proposals: horizonbook.eu. Writing a proposal is not hard, writing a good proposal is hard!