FP10: "The big winners of the proposal are universities and research organisations" (E. Zaharieva)

"The proposal of the Commission is doubling the money of Horizon Europe, and it's going to have 100% more money for fundamental research for the European Research Council. We did propose tripling the budget for the European Innovation Council. One of the big winners of the proposal of the Commission is the universities and research organisations", says Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Start-ups and R&I on 30/09/2025, during a press conference following the meeting of the EU Council of Ministers for Research.

She responds to concerns about fundamental research raised in particular by Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary General of Leru, in a statement published on 29/09, which says: "EU funding for basic research is now in jeopardy. If the ECF (European Competitiveness Fund) budget does not contribute to R&I — and particularly to basic research — only the ERC (European Research Council) will explicitly fund fundamental research at the EU level [...] If this MFF/FP10/ECF scenario is confirmed, basic research is heading for disaster".

He explains that, legally, the ECF cannot finance…