Universities welcome EP’s Horizon Europe stance but raise reservations over new instruments

Associations representing European universities have given a guarded but positive response to reports published by MEPs Christian Ehler and René Repasi on the Horizon Europe research framework programme for 2028-2034 (FP10) and its implementation, describing them as encouraging.

Mattias Björnmalm, secretary general of CESAER, an organisation representing over 50 science and technology universities, said: “These reports provide a strong starting point for Parliament. Not everything is perfect and some elements will need to be improved during the legislative process, but the overall direction is very encouraging."

In a post on LinkedIn, Jan Palmowski, secretary-general of The Guild of European Research Intensive Universities, praised Ehler’s proposal to increase the programme’s budget to €220 billion (compared to €175bn the Commission has proposed). The European University Association (EUA) and the League of European Research Universities (LERU) also praised the call for higher funding.

The Guild's reaction highlighted new instruments proposed by the reports. Ehler, from the…