Battle over EU's budget hots up with fears of impact of large cuts on Horizon Europe

Fears are growing in the EU’s research community at the prospect of major cuts to the Union’s budget for 2028-2034.

Earlier this week, Reuters news agency published a report saying that the German government wants to cut €400 billion from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028-2034 compared to the proposal from the European Commission in July 2025. As the proposal for the MFF was around €2 trillion, this would mean a cut of around 20%.

Jan Palmowski, secretary-general of The Guild of Research-Intensive Universities, said: “Any drastic demand for cuts must come with a proposal where the cut needs to be made. The German government is committed to economic growth, competitiveness and leading in new technologies: given the position of China and the US, as well as other…