The European Commission has proposed a budget of €175 billion (?150 billion) for the successor to Horizon Europe, known as FP10, stating that the research funding programme will be ¡°tightly connected¡± to the new European Competitiveness Fund.

The figure falls short of the amount hoped for across the European higher education sector: the League of European Research Universities (Leru) and the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities are among the umbrella bodies to have called for a budget of at least €200 billion, urging the European Union to more than double the €95.5 billion budget assigned to Horizon Europe between 2021 and 2027.

After a day of delays and last-minute negotiations, commission president Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a proposal for the EU¡¯s next long-term budget, known as the Multiannual Financial Framework, that totalled almost €2 trillion.

The 2028-2034 budget, von der Leyen said, is a ¡°budget for a new era. It is a budget that matches Europe¡¯s ambition, that confronts Europe¡¯s challenges and that strengthens our independence. The budget is larger, it is smarter, and it is sharper¡±.

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The proposed Competitiveness Fund, von der Leyen said, will have a budget of €410 billion. ¡°We think it¡¯s crucial to back the strategic technologies of tomorrow. We really put an emphasis on this competitiveness fund, funding the strategic technologies that we need for the future markets,¡± she said.

¡°The Competitiveness Fund includes a doubling of Horizon Europe. It is already a big programme. It¡¯s one of the most renowned programmes we have worldwide, the most renowned scientific research programme. We will double it,¡± the commission president continued.

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While her wording seemed to suggest FP10 would be part of the Competitiveness Fund, a said that the flagship research funder would operate ¡°in close connection¡± with the new fund.

, the EU said, ¡°The?European Competitiveness fund, tightly connected to?Horizon Europe, will create a seamless investment journey from research to scaling up and manufacturing for beneficiaries of EU funding, to provide for a more focused and simpler set-up.¡±

Von der Leyen stated in May that Horizon Europe ¡°will stay as a self-standing programme¡±, quelling growing concern across the sector that it would be absorbed into the European Competitiveness Fund.

Leru and the Guild welcomed the confirmation at the time, but called for ¡°clarity on what?[their] connection entails and how it will be implemented¡±. ?

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?emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com