17 Mar 2026
Stakeholders react to EP's draft reports on Horizon Europe 2028+
Several stakeholder organisations have reacted to the two EP rapporteurs' draft reports on Horizon Europe 2028-2034, MEP Christian Ehler's report on the new Horizon Europe Regulation, and René Repasi's draft report on the Horizon Europe Specific Programme. Both draft reports were presented on 13 March 2026.
The European University Association (EUA) welcomes the publication of the draft reports and notes that many of the proposed orientations are closely aligned with recommendations put forward by universities and research institutes. They also resonate with recommendations made amongst others by the reports by Enrico Letta, Mario Draghi, Manuel Heitor and Sauli Niinistö.
In particular, EUA strongly welcomes the clear message that Horizon Europe should remain a fully self-standing programme with its own independent governance and programming. It regards the reports’ call to restore Horizon Europe’s governance within the programme itself, rather than within the European Competitiveness Fund, as an important step towards safeguarding the programme' coherence and strategic focus.
EUA also welcomes the budgetary ambition of € 220 billion for FP10 expressed in the reports, as well as the strong emphasis placed on preserving the bottom-up nature of research funding and safeguarding the autonomy of the European Research Council (ERC). The association also welcomes the reports' highlighting the importance of simplifying participation rules for beneficiaries and strengthening the role of experts in shaping research priorities, including through an expert-led approach to Pillar II.
The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities also warmly welcomes the ambition of the two reports for a reform of FP10, including the proposed budget increase to €200 billion, saying this would also significantly contribute to the financial predictability of FP10. The Guild is in favour of the reports' proposal to contain defence R&I projects into the European Innovation Council (EIC) and to finance them through the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). Furthermore, the Guild supports the protection of the unique model of the European Research Council (ERC) by the proposed reintroduction of provisions reinforcing the autonomy of the ERC Scientific Council and the role of the ERC President. The Guild welcomes the reports' efforts to allow for bottom-up and collaborative R&I projects, as well as the proposed new instrument for Researchers at Risk. The Guild supports many ideas in these reports for more impactful instruments and initiatives, for instance in relation to Partnerships and moonshots.
The association particularly commends the proposed renewed governance for FP 10 based on a stronger expert engagement, and the idea of creating Councils and expert groups with the role of steering the implementation of the work programmes. The Guild also supports both MEPs' articulation of the importance of the connections between FP 10 and the ECF, and the need to maximise these through distinct governance logics for FP10. Furthermore, the Guild agrees with the reports' rejection of lump sum funding as the default form of funding, and the proposals made for simplification for beneficiaries.
LERU, the League of European Resarch Universities, congratulates MEP Ehler on his report and particularly highlights the following claims made by the report: preserving the autonomy of the ERC; strongly reaffirming the role of experts and expertise in European research policy, including reinforcing expert-driven governance structures within FP10; the proposal to create a Council for European Competitiveness Research and a European Council for Global Societal Challenges Research; the call for implementation and management of collaborative research and innovation activities under the framework programme to be entrusted to expert teams; the clear commitment to excellence and competitiveness as the central pillars of FP10; addressing the protection and promotion of academic freedom and the freedom of scientific research, including the establishment of a European Scheme for the Support of Researchers at Risk; envisioning the ECF and FP10 as separate but complementary programmes, each with its own objectives, budgets, work programmes and governance structures, yet operating in synergy. Other elements of the report welcomed by LERU include, amongst others, the continued recognition of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and its Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs); a constructive yet critical approach to partnerships, moonshots and missions; the integration of social sciences and humanities across the entire framework programme; the reaffirmation of a €220 billion budget; the continuation of the 3.3% budget cap on widening measures; the funding of defence research under the ECF rather than the Framework Programme.
On a more critical note, LERU finds further discussion will be necessary on the following issues, amongst others: dual-use and defence research, the lack of a fast-track procedure for the association of the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and the introduction of a Fast Track to Excellence in Pillar I without clarity on its financing.
LERU also regards the Repasi report as valuable overall, but is concerned about the acceptance of directionality within the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) and the proposal to introduce “sectoral plans” to be established by the ERC. The association is in favour, though, of the proposal for the ERC to become an independent Union agency with its own legal basis.
CESAER, the association of universities of science and technology in Europe, welcomes the two complementary reports and sees them as a move in the right direction by seeking to safeguard FP10 as a strong and autonomous Framework Programme, clarify its relationship with the proposed European Competitiveness Fund, strengthen expert-led governance and implementation, reinforce the autonomy of the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council, and protect excellence, openness and talent as core organising principles.
YERUN, the Young European Research Universities Network, also welcomes the two reports, and in particular the clear reaffirmation of the core mission of Horizon Europe: to support excellence-driven knowledge creation and frontier research. YERUN regards the clarification of the relationship between FP10 and the ECF as important, underlining that FP10 must remain independent and should not be subordinated to broader industrial policy frameworks. The association also welcomes the report's ambition to redesign the governance and strategic orientation of collaborative research within the programme. Other elements in MEP Ehler's report that YERUN welcomes include, amongst others, a strong emphasis on simplification for beneficiaries, the reinforcement of the autonomy and role of key instruments such as the ERC, a continued commitment to openness in international research cooperation; and the the proposed budgetary increase to €220 billion.
With regard to Mr. Repasi's report, YERUN highlights its support for reinforcing the role of excellence as the foundation of European research funding and the importance of investigator-driven, bottom-up research; the reports’s proposal to strengthen the independence of the ERC; the recognition of the importance of integrating social sciences and humanities across the whole programme; and highlighting gender equality, open science and the public value of research, as transversal priorities.
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