Skip to content
DRAFT OPINION (COM(2025/0543 – C100164/2025 – 2025/0543(COD))

On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Establishing Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, for the period 2028-2034 laying down its rules for participation and dissemination, and repealing Regulation (EU) 2021/695

SEDE-PA-782488

Committee on Security and Defence · Rapporteur: Costas Mavrides

Official HTML ↗ PDF DOCX
✦ In shortFull text
✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 25 Sept 2026

Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

The Committee on Security and Defence proposes amendments to Parliament's position on the proposed Horizon Europe regulation for 2028-2034, focusing on dual-use research and defence innovation. It adds a new Article 5a allowing dual-use actions only in calls explicitly designated as open to them, with stricter eligibility, security screening and dissemination conditions. Participation in such calls would be limited to entities established in EU member states, Ukraine, EEA EFTA states, or associated countries with a security and defence partnership with the Union. The amendments also adjust recitals on research careers, the European Innovation Council's defence and dual-use start-up support, international cooperation and economic security, and add Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference to the Programme's societal challenges.

Committee position. The Committee on Security and Defence proposes amendments to the Horizon Europe regulation to allow dual-use actions only in explicitly designated calls, restrict participation to entities from the EU, Ukraine, EEA EFTA states or associated countries with a security and defence partnership, and add security conditions and FIMI to the Programme.

Key points

  1. Dual-use actions would be eligible for support only where the relevant work programme explicitly designates a call as open to them.
  2. Such designation must not affect the civilian character of the regulation or lead to systematic or exclusive funding of dual-use actions.
  3. Designated calls must specify scope and conditions and remain open to projects pursuing exclusively civilian applications.
  4. Work programmes may impose stricter eligibility conditions on place of establishment and third-country control, enhanced security screening and risk assessments, and specific dissemination, exploitation and access conditions.
  5. The Commission would verify that participation by entities from associated countries or EU entities controlled by third countries does not contravene Union and member state security and defence interests.
  6. Participation in dual-use calls would be restricted to legal entities established in EU member states, Ukraine, EEA EFTA states, or associated countries with a security and defence partnership with the Union.
  7. Recital 14 would state that dual-use eligibility is limited to explicitly designated calls without affecting the Programme's civilian character.
  8. Recital 15 would include a DARPA-like approach dedicated to supporting defence and dual-use start-ups and their scaling-up, complementing the ECF InvestEU Instrument, EUDIS and CASSINI.
  9. Recital 21 would limit participation in dual-use actions to entities established in member states, Ukraine, EEA EFTA states, or associated countries with a security and defence partnership with the Union.
  10. Recital 22 would require eligibility and participation conditions for sensitive or dual-use technologies to reflect the regulation's geographic scope and security requirements, with security, resilience and export control considerations.
  11. Article 15(4) would add Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) to the areas of global societal challenges the Programme supports.

Who is affected

  • Legal entities from EU member states, Ukraine, EEA EFTA states and associated countries with a security and defence partnership: eligible for dual-use calls.
  • Entities from other third countries: excluded from dual-use calls.
  • EU entities controlled by a third country or third-country entity: subject to Commission verification for dual-use actions.
  • Defence and dual-use start-ups: targeted for DARPA-like support under the European Innovation Council.