Universities and research institutes ask the Council to match MEPs ambition on FP10 and ECF

Universities and research institutes have backed the European Parliament’s report on Horizon Europe 2028-2034 (FP10) and the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) and have urged the EU's Council of Ministers to build on it.

Seven associations of universities and research centres in the life sciences published a statement on 27/05/2026, urging the member states to "engage actively and substantively" with the approach proposed by German MEP Christian Ehler in the EP's draft Horizon Europe report during the Competitiveness Council meetings on 28/05/2026 and 29/05/2026 and in upcoming Council discussions on the ECF.

The group said they welcomed the EP's thinking on how to define the interaction between ECF and FP10 "that points towards a more comprehensive innovation-based competitiveness model: one that builds on Europe’s capacity to generate knowledge, identify and support promising ideas and results, and translate them into innovation, uptake and impact".

They asked the Council to follow Ehler's idea of making FP10 and ECF "autonomous but connected programmes" through a strong…