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DRAFT REPORT (COM(2025)0544 – C100218/2025 – 2025/0544(CNS))

On the proposal for a Council decision on establishing the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for the period 2028-2034, laying down the rules for participation and dissemination under that Programme, and repealing Decision (EU) 2021/764

ITRE-PR-781461

Committee on Industry, Research and Energy · Rapporteur: René Repasi

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This is the rapporteur's draft report on the proposed Council decision establishing the Specific Programme implementing Horizon Europe for 2028-2034, which also lays down participation and dissemination rules and repeals Decision (EU) 2021/764. The draft approves the Commission proposal as amended and calls on the Commission and Council to align their texts with Parliament's amendments. It amends the recitals and articles to keep the Specific Programme strictly implementing, to anchor excellence, frontier research and investigator-driven research, and to strengthen the ERC, MSCA and EIC. It adds rules on European Partnerships, work programmes, research infrastructures, committee procedures, and review and evaluation, and creates a new sectoral plan instrument under the ERC Scientific Council.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes to approve the Commission proposal as amended, aligning the legal architecture with the Treaty framework, separating Horizon Europe governance from the European Competitiveness Fund, and strengthening the ERC, MSCA and EIC.

Key points

  1. The Specific Programme should remain strictly limited to its implementing function and not modify, supplement or reinterpret the essential elements, objectives and governance arrangements of the Horizon Europe Regulation.
  2. The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts where duly justified imperative grounds of urgency relating to work programmes so require.
  3. Excellence should remain the guiding principle, with support for investigator-driven frontier research, bottom-up actions and high-risk, high-gain projects.
  4. The Specific Programme should promote equality, diversity and inclusion, mainstream gender, and foster international cooperation based on mutual benefit and protection of academic freedom and research security.
  5. Work programmes should indicate the budget allocated to each action and mission and an indicative timetable, set a single funding rate per action, and include an evaluation procedure.
  6. European Partnerships should follow a clear lifecycle, be selected competitively only in the most strategically relevant cases, include independent scientific advisory mechanisms, and launch their final calls before 31 December 2034.
  7. The Commission should submit a consolidated report on the performance, added value and portfolio coherence of all European Partnerships to Parliament and the Council every two years.
  8. The ERC President should be appointed after a public hearing before Parliament, serve a four-year renewable term, and work mainly in Brussels with adequate resources.
  9. The ERC Scientific Council should have 22 members with gender and generational balance, four-year renewable terms, and three Vice-Presidents with administrative support.
  10. The ERC Scientific Council may invite research institutions to develop six-year sectoral plans with a pre-allocated budget, approved through a dedicated expert peer-review panel.
  11. The EIC Board should establish the draft work programme recommendation, draft investment guidelines, and appoint Programme Managers, with members serving four-year renewable terms and the President consulted with Parliament.
  12. The Commission should carry out interim and final evaluations, make conclusions public and present them to Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, and assess establishing the ERC as an independent Union agency.

Who is affected

  • Researchers and research organisations, who gain support for frontier research, mobility, careers and sectoral plans.
  • European Partnerships, which must meet selection criteria, governance and monitoring rules and launch final calls before 31 December 2034.
  • The European Research Council, whose governance, President and Scientific Council rules are amended.
  • The European Innovation Council, whose Board composition, terms and Programme Manager rules are amended.
  • The Commission, which must adopt implementing acts, report on partnerships and carry out evaluations.

Figures and deadlines

  • 22 independent scientists, engineers and scholars compose the ERC Scientific Council.
  • Four years is the term of office for the ERC President, renewable once.
  • Four years is the term of office for ERC Scientific Council members, renewable once.
  • 15 to 20 independent high-level individuals compose the EIC Board.
  • Four years is the term of office for EIC Board members, renewable once.
  • Four years is the maximum term of the EIC Board President, extendable once for up to 4 years.
  • Three years is the maximum term of EIC Programme Managers, renewable once.
  • 31 December 2034 is the deadline for European Partnerships to launch their final calls.

Legal basis: Article 182(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.