EU member states set out Horizon Europe negotiating position: what are the main takeaways for universities?

This marks an important milestone in the negotiations on the EU’s tenth research and innovation framework programme (FP10). Indeed, the agreed position introduces a number of changes compared with the European Commission’s proposal published in July 2025. And while it addresses a number of concerns raised by universities, significant questions remain.

"Horizon Europe succeeds when it combines scientific excellence, openness and long-term investment in knowledge creation. The Council has taken some important steps to preserve these strengths, but the next phase of negotiations will be crucial to ensure that FP10 provides the right conditions for researchers and innovators across the European R&I landscape to deliver impact for society and the economy," said Amanda Crowfoot, EUA Secretary General.

EUA’s analysis of the Council's partial general approach highlights both positive developments and areas where further improvements will be needed during the next phase of negotiations, in particular reacting to the Council’s:

• Reaffirmation of Horizon Europe’s core mission and its shift towards a relationship with the European Competitiveness Fund based on synergy and complementarity: EUA welcomes this change but underlines the need for greater clarity on how the two instruments will work together in practice.
• Recognition of the need for dedicated discussions on R&I priorities: EUA sees this as a positive step, while continuing to advocate for stronger involvement of independent scientific and innovation expertise in programme implementation.
• Measures to strengthen the autonomy of the European Research Council and provide stronger safeguards for the bottom-up nature of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions: EUA welcomes these improvements but continues to advocate for MSCA as a fully bottom-up programme.
• Greater emphasis on balancing bottom-up and strategically driven collaborative research: EUA welcomes the recognition that collaborative research should preserve space for researcher-driven ideas alongside strategic priorities, as well as the move towards less prescriptive topic design that gives applicants greater flexibility in achieving programme objectives.
• Decision to maintain the Commission’s approach to dual-use research and support for defence-only projects in the European Innovation Council: EUA advocates for limiting dual-use research to clearly identified parts of the programme with robust safeguards and opposes support for defence-only projects in the EIC.
• Stronger focus on research security: EUA supports measures to address genuine risks but stresses that they should remain proportionate and be accompanied by appropriate support for beneficiaries.
• Approach to international cooperation, which preserves the existing association framework but, in EUA’s view, misses an opportunity to facilitate collaboration with trusted research partners such as Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Download EUA’s analysis in full

Next steps

The partial general approach serves as the Council’s negotiating mandate for the upcoming discussions with the European Parliament and the European Commission on the final shape of FP10.

Subject to the European Parliament adopting its own negotiating position in parallel, interinstitutional negotiations (trilogues) could begin from mid-October at the earliest. However, the start of negotiations may be delayed until member states reach an agreement on the overall multiannual financial framework (MFF). These negotiations will determine the final legislative framework for Horizon Europe for the period 2028-2034.