MFF and Horizon Europe: European leaders must act now to secure funding for R&I

Member states are currently engaged in intensive discussions within the Council of the EU, the outcome of which will ultimately be key to determining the overall size of the 2028-2034 multiannual financial framework (MFF) and therefore the funding available for Horizon Europe.

The choices made in these negotiations will shape Europe’s capacity to generate new knowledge, strengthen innovation and build long-term competitiveness, resilience and prosperity. The joint statement therefore stresses that R&I must be considered as a strategic investment, with Horizon Europe playing a central role by supporting frontier and collaborative research, as well as research careers, mobility and infrastructures across Europe.

Against this backdrop, the seven organisations behind the statement call for a Horizon Europe budget of at least €200 billion over seven years. In addition, the statement highlights that inflation and rising research costs significantly reduce the increase represented by the Commission’s proposal of €175 billion in real terms.

Pressure on public budgets makes clear prioritisation of EU-level investment all the more important. To this end, the statement points out that research and innovation underpin progress across policy areas and provide the knowledge, talent and technologies on which Europe’s competitiveness, security, resilience and prosperity depend.

The statement’s signatories also call for greater budget certainty for Horizon Europe. Concretely, its financial envelope should be treated as a minimum commitment and emerging priorities should be supported through additional resources rather than by redirecting existing R&I funding.

They further stress the need for balanced investment across the research and innovation continuum, including strong support for frontier research, research talent and early-stage collaborative research. Horizon Europe should focus on research and the earlier stages of innovation, while deployment, market uptake and scale-up should be supported through other EU instruments, notably the European Competitiveness Fund.

The statement also calls for timely agreement on an ambitious overall EU budget, allowing Horizon Europe to start as planned in January 2028. It welcomes the exploration of new EU ‘own resources’ to strengthen the overall budget, while stressing that these must not substitute for an ambitious and predictable Horizon Europe budget.

Finally, the signatories call for strong and complementary R&I investment at European and national levels, including progress towards the target of investing at least 3% of GDP in R&I and a public effort of 1.25% of EU GDP to be achieved by each member state by 2030.

Download the joint statement

On behalf of EUA, the Association’s Secretary General Amanda Crowfoot noted that:

“Europe’s ambitions need to be matched by sustained investment in research and innovation. This means securing an ambitious and predictable Horizon Europe budget that supports excellent R&I.

The decisions taken now will shape Europe’s capacity to generate knowledge, attract and develop talent and turn new ideas into progress for many years to come.”

The statement is co-signed by CESAER, the Coimbra Group, EUA, EU-LIFE, The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, the League of European Research Universities (LERU) and the Young European Research Universities Network (YERUN).