Science|Business: Rumoured overhaul of Commission research directorate gets mixed response

Science|Business article, 21 May 2026, by Ole Ellekrog

Lobbies insist on need for R&D expertise inside European Commission, but disagree on threat of reshuffle

Once more, the EU quarter in Brussels is alive with rumours. Earlier this week, Politico Europe reported that the European Commission is planning to centralise departments responsible for the direct allocation of EU funding ahead of the start of the next EU multiannual budget in 2028. 

According to reports, a potential overhaul could see the directorate-general for research and innovation (DG RTD) revamped or moved under a centralised “DG Invest,” an idea that has already been met with both scepticism and optimism from key research stakeholders.

University and research lobbies are taking the rumours seriously and fear of a loss of research expertise among key staff in DG RTD, the Commission body in charge of the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.

“This would be a disaster for [the next Horizon Europe],” Jan Palmowski, secretary-general of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, told Science|Business, “because to support it, and to ensure Europe’s science is cutting-edge against increasingly stiff global competition, you need a research directorate that understands how research works and how it is best funded in a fast-changing world.”

A potential restructuring, Palmowski said, risks endangering DG RTD’s position as “one of the world’s most prominent research funders,” a function that cannot be sustained “by bureaucrats who focus on centralised investment decisions for economic gain.”

The potential restructuring is seen as a further example of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s push to centralise power, following last year’s rumours that Horizon Europe would be integrated into the upcoming European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). 

A last-minute compromise ensured that Horizon Europe would continue to be a separate programme with a separate legislation. However, the ECF will be tightly linked to the research and innovation programme, a move which critics have described as a way for the Commission to redirect money to emerging priorities.

This push for centralisation has unnerved research lobby groups. Lidia Borrell-Damián, secretary-general of Science Europe, called the rumours, if true, “unprecedented” and “somehow worrying.” It is critical, she said, that research in Europe “is not subordinated to purely economic objectives.”

“Research and the development of the EU's scientific base is a strategic priority in itself, as research generates the necessary insightful knowledge that allows addressing societal challenges and follow-on technological developments,” she told Science|Business.

Kurt Deketelaere secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, echoed this view, calling the restructure “a very bad idea.” 

“It shows that those who suggest this don’t know what the mission of DG RTD is: to develop policy on research and innovation issues in Europe, for and with the member states and the European Parliament. We witness on a daily basis the broad range of topics DG RTD is working on,” Deketelaere told Science|Business.

Changes are a must

But not everyone is worried. Manuel Heitor, former science minister of Portugal, who led the Commission's expert group on Horizon Europe, welcomed the rumoured changes. He called the reorganisation of all Commission directorates general before the next EU budget “a must,” since most Commission services, including DG RTD, are “overloaded with administrative staff, with no adequate skills.”

“[The restructuring] should go beyond the overall architecture and the titles of the various DGs. It should include a serious consideration of a new career of ‘programme manager’ for skilled people, adequately paid, including adequate temporary contracts, promoting a brain circulation of experts throughout Europe,” Heitor told Science|Business.

In the future, the structure of the Commission research funding body should look more like the European Research Council (ERC), he said.

“The current structure and skills in DG RTD do not make sense. In other words, the ERC model introduced 20 years ago has proven to be the most successful in Europe and worldwide and should be adopted and leveraged for the full governance of FP10,” he said, referring to Framework Programme 10, as the next Horizon Europe is also known.

More specifically, he reference a 2024 report by an expert group which he steered, recommending that the FP10 should be led by four independent councils, covering frontier research, disruptive innovation, industrial competitiveness and addressing societal challenges.

Not all change is negative

Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of the Cesaer university association, had a more diplomatic response to the rumours, calling the Commission's reflections on a new structure “both normal and healthy.”

“Any major organisation needs to adjust its structures over time. The real question is therefore not whether evolution is needed, but whether any reorganisation maintains and strengthens what works well while adapting to what is changing,” Björnmalm told Science|Business. 

“For research and innovation, that means preserving the expertise, institutional memory and capabilities that exist in key people and parts of DG RTD, regardless of whether the name on the building changes,” he said.

Björnmalm highlighted both an optimistic and a pessimistic reading of the rumours. Optimistically, the restructuring could allow for an implementation of ideas from the research and innovation community, while pessimistically, it would lead to a centralisation of authority “under the banner of simplification.”

“In short, the research and innovation community should follow this carefully, while not assuming that every organisational change is negative,” he said.

The Commission did not respond to Science|Business’s request for comments on the rumoured changes.

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