EU and Australia seal Horizon Europe association, paving the way for 2028-2034 cooperation

Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva and Australia’s Minister in charge of R&I, Tim Ayres, have signed the agreement for the country's association to Horizon Europe 2021-2027, hoping to "negotiate the protocol much faster, with no break at all in the association for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)".

At the signing, on 12/11/2026, in response to a question from News Tank on the period of collaboration remaining before the end of the programme, Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, said: "This year is really important. It gives us the chance to secure Australia’s association for the next programming period very quickly, since we only need to renegotiate the protocol. I hope we can do so much faster, so that there is no interruption in the…