EU president faces more questions over Horizon R&I pledge

European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen yielded to months of pressure by conceding that Horizon Europe will be followed by another “self-standing” EU research programme, but her big speech to the annual EU budget conference on 20 May nonetheless raised almost as many questions as answers for Europe’s research community.

The presidential address by Von der Leyen broke over half a year of silence on what the new European Commission planned to do with the successor to Horizon Europe, the world’s largest research programme, which has a budget of €93.5 billion (US$105 billion) to cover the period from 2021 to 2027.

European universities and research leaders feared that it might be swallowed up in the commission’s plans for a giant competitiveness research and innovation super fund, with control over how the money is spent handed over to Von der Leyen and her fellow commissioners, the EU’s top civil servants.

“We were alarmed that basic research would take a back seat and only applied research would matter as long as it serves innovation,” Professor Kurt Deketelaere, secretary general of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), told University World News.

Deketelaere claimed that the commission had been “forced to listen to a united voice” demanding safeguards for a future independent framework programme (FP10) for research and innovation.

The campaign, spearheaded by LERU and The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, was supported by a wide cross-section of higher education and research stakeholders and won the backing of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the European Competitiveness Council (which represents EU member states’ research ministers) earlier this year, as University World News reported.

Links to competitiveness fund

However, LERU and The Guild now intend to quiz Von der Leyen further to seek clarity about what the EC president meant by the next EU Framework Programme for R&I (FP10) being closely linked to the proposed European Competitiveness Fund.

During her big budget speech on 20 May, Von der Leyen called for simpler rules and less bureaucracy in the next multiannual budget to make it easier for people, businesses and public authorities to apply for European funds through “one single European Competitiveness Fund” before committing to a standalone follow-up programme to Horizon Europe.

In a key section of her speech, Von der Leyen said: “In a nutshell, the Competitiveness Fund will offer support for the investment journey of a project. From an idea to the market! From research to start-up, scale-up and global manufacturing.”

She then stated: “But let me be clear: our framework programme Horizon Europe will stay as a self-standing programme. It is an outstanding brand – the most renowned research programme worldwide.

“But it will be tightly connected to our competitiveness fund. We need a seamless flow from fundamental research to applied research to start-ups to scale-up.”

Two interpretations

Professor Jan Palmowski, secretary general of The Guild, told University World News, there could be two ways of reading von der Leyen’s speech.

“If you read this as being part of the European Competitiveness Fund, or ECF, then that’s a problem.

“However, my reading is very clear: you can only be tightly connected to something if you are not part of it. Otherwise, the formulation should have been a standalone FP10 ‘within’ the ECF.

“So it is critical that Commission President Von der Leyen now honours her words and that the standalone FP10 really is outside the ECF.

“She also said nothing about an ambitious budget – indeed, the whole speech emphasised budgetary challenges and the need for flexibility within the budget,” he noted.

Palmowski said while it is clearly good news that Von der Leyen recognises the value of Horizon Europe and commits to a “standalone” FP10, it is now crucial that she commits to “an ambitious, ring-fenced budget that is not raided every time a new political opportunity arises”.

Charm offensive

Since her big budget speech and earlier remarks at an event on 5 May 2025 at La Sorbonne to launch the “Choose Europe for Science” campaign, the commission president has gone out of her way in a charm offensive with the message that Europe should lead in research and innovation.

This has included two keynote speeches at RWTH Aachen University in Germany on 28 and 29 May, which coincided with the Charlemagne Prize award ceremony.

There she reinforced the importance of creating seven-year “Super Grants” within the European Research Council (ERC), investing an additional €500 million (US$570 million) to help guarantee freedom of scientific research and help attract and retain the best talent in Europe.

Von der Leyen said that Europe is “home to more than 2 million researchers, a quarter of the total number worldwide” and that the continent has produced more than 500 Nobel Prize winners, before adding: “In Horizon Europe, we have the largest international research programme in the world” with a “good infrastructure” combined with “rule of law” and “cross-border exchange”.

All this has helped to change the mood music between the commission and European research leaders, but the champagne corks are not popping quite yet.

Deketelaere said the research community was still pressing for a ring-fenced budget of €200 billion for FP10, more than double the current budget for Horizon Europe, and wanted “increased investment for proven successes, notably the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), an expanded European Research Council (ERC), and a reformed European Innovation Council (EIC)”.

Change of heart

Asked about the lead-up to the change of heart by the European Commission hierarchy over FP10, Deketelaere said there was “a long period of silence about the importance of basic research” after the new roles and responsibilities of the new commissioners were revealed last autumn.

And when no explicit mention was made of Framework Programme 10, alarm bells started ringing among researchers, as University World News reported last September.

“Everything that happened between November 2024 and April 2025 reinforced the fear that basic research was no longer important and that applied research was okay as long as it serves innovation.

“Leaked documents in 2024 and 2025 fuelled that line of thinking,” said Deketelaere.

“Whether you call it a U-turn or not, the commission leadership was clever enough to know when it was cornered after the European Parliament, the Competitiveness Council, and the prime ministers of different member states supported us in saying publicly that the framework programme cannot be integrated into the ECF,” he said.

Trump may have helped, too!

Deketelaere added: “And perhaps US President Donald Trump helped, too, with his crazy crusade against Harvard University.

“Von der Leyen seized the opportunity to change her approach after months of silence and put research, higher education, universities, the framework programme and academic freedom back at centre stage in her agenda.

“Now, suddenly, she is unstoppable, with her Sorbonne speech on ‘Choose Europe for Science’, the announcement that the FP will remain standalone, and praising EU R&I in her Aachen speeches and saying research and innovation is a key priority for an independent Europe.

“Incredible or not, but in just a few weeks she has erased six months or more of uncertainty about Europe's R&I future.

“While Jan and I, and the European research community, may be fantastic lobbyists, perhaps, ironically, we can thank Donald Trump for helping the change of heart and the commission's newfound enthusiasm and public declarations in support of science,” Deketelaere told University World News.

Early dividends

The announcement that the next EU R&I framework will be a standalone programme like Horizon Europe has already produced dividends, with the Russell Group, U15 Canada and umbrella organisation swissuniversities collectively welcoming the move.

The three groups represent leading research universities in countries outside the EU that are associated with Horizon, and there was concern that they would need something to affiliate to when the current framework programme for R&I comes to an end in 2028, as University World News reported.

In a statement signed by Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group in the UK; Dr Chad Gaffield, chief executive of U15 Canada; and Dr Luciana Vaccaro, president of swissuniversities, the three groups said: “At a moment of global uncertainty, this was a timely commitment to the positive impact of collaborative research across trusted partners.

“As the world’s largest collaborative R&D programme, Horizon Europe reflects the fact that research and innovation are inherently collaborative endeavours.”

Nic Mitchell is a UK-based freelance journalist and PR consultant specialising in European and international higher education. He blogs at www.delacourcommunications.com.