EUA publishes its contribution to the EC's public consultation on the ERA Act

The European University Association (EUA) has published its input paper 'Building an impactful European Research Area'. It is the EUA's contribution to the European Commission's public consultation on the ERA Act which closed on 23 January 2026.

For the EUA, to increase the impact of the European Research Area and achieve the fifth freedom, the ERA Act must strike a balance between alignment across the EU and institutional autonomy, while taking into consideration pre-existing national policies and frameworks.

In this policy input, EUA underlines that the European Commission’s proposal to put forward an Act to address the fragmentation of the European Research Area is a positive development that could strategically strengthen the European R&I landscape. However, the EUA states that the Commission should avoid implementing overly restrictive measures that would risk placing additional burden on researchers and lead to limited autonomy for institutions.

To avoid unintended consequences, the EUA regards careful impact assessment as essential for the ERA Act to be fit for universities and researchers. The Act should also seek complementarity with other EU initiatives such as the Innovation Act, European Education Area and European Higher Education Area.

This policy input presents EUA’s considerations and specific recommendations on the ERA Act for each area of intervention identified by the Commission, including:

• Underinvestment in R&I,
• Alignment of R&I policies and priorities across member states,
• Freedom of scientific research,
• Gender equality,
• Research careers and mobility,
• The free circulation of scientific knowledge,
• Knowledge valorisation,
• AI in research, and
• International cooperation and research security.

Following EUA’s response to the European Commission’s call for evidence on the ERA Act, this input builds on several consultation processes with EUA’s members:

For more information:

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EUA input paper: Building an impactful European Research Area