European Parliament committee votes for an ambitious, independent and research-driven Horizon Europe

The European University Association welcomes both reports, which together form a strong compromise. Moreover, they mark an important step towards a more ambitious, independent and research-driven tenth EU framework programme for research and innovation (FP10), reflecting many of the priorities of the university and wider research community.

What are the positive takeaways for universities?

EUA particularly welcomes several key elements from the two reports:

• A stronger, independent Horizon Europe, with its own governance and programming structures, while ensuring practical links with the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF).
• An ambitious €200 billion budget, with increased investment in excellent science, including substantial reinforcements for the European Research Council (ERC) and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA).
• Stronger safeguards for the ERC’s autonomy, including the independence of its Scientific Council and President.
• The preservation of MSCA’s fully bottom-up character, without thematic directionality.
• A greater role for independent scientific and innovation expertise in Pillar II, notably through a proposed High-Level Council and the involvement of experts in shaping research priorities and calls.
• More opportunities for bottom-up collaborative research within Pillar II, preserving space for researcher-driven, early-stage and interdisciplinary projects.
• Strengthened international cooperation, notably through the recognition of trusted partners, reinforcing Europe’s openness to global research collaboration.
• Exploration of new approaches to managing the growing number of research proposals, with the Parliament seeking ways to improve evaluation and funding procedures while safeguarding scientific excellence.

What could still be improved in the next stage of negotiations?

While strongly welcoming the overall direction of the compromise, there are opportunities to further strengthen two aspects of the proposals as negotiations progress.

EUA supports the Parliament’s intention to give societal challenges greater visibility within Pillar II. However, the proposed Society windows closely mirror the Competitiveness windows, raising questions about whether societal research risks being confined to a limited number of predefined priorities, leaving less room for important questions that fall outside them.

As negotiations progress, it may be worth exploring whether a broader Society window, combined with stronger integration of social sciences and humanities across the Competitiveness windows, could preserve more space for a wider range of societal research questions while strengthening interdisciplinary approaches to addressing complex challenges.

Similarly, EUA strongly supports the Parliament’s ambition to give independent scientific experts a greater role, not only in shaping, but also in implementing, Pillar II. This approach could bring important benefits to the programme by ensuring that scientific excellence and the potential for breakthrough R&I are at the heart of its implementation.

As negotiations progress, it will be important to ensure that the new implementation arrangements do not introduce unnecessary complexity or lengthy procedures that could ultimately undermine this ambition.

Overall, the ITRE votes represent an important achievement. EUA thanks the European Parliament for its constructive engagement with the research sector and for reflecting many of its recommendations in the compromise. As negotiations advance, EUA stands ready to continue contributing the expertise of Europe’s universities towards an ambitious and timely agreement on FP10.