The European Parliament has proposed changes to FP10

The draft proposes a new approach to setting work programs and greater autonomy for the ERC.

Last year in July, the European Commission presented a proposal for the 10th Framework Program for Research and Innovation (referred to as FP10). The Member States, institutions (the Technology Centre Prague), and technology platforms have commented on the text, and the European Parliament has now also weighed in with its draft of the regulation for Horizon Europe (FP10). This report was published on Friday, March 13, and represents the Parliament’s first official response to the European Commission’s proposal.

The draft report is structured into four parts: a general approach to the program, changes to Pillar I (Excellent Science), proposals for Pillar II (Global Challenges and Industrial Competitiveness), and amendments to Pillars III and IV.

Budget and Program Structure

The European Parliament supports maintaining the program’s four-pillar structure. At the same time, however, it proposes several significant changes compared to the Commission’s proposal. Among the most notable is an increase in the program’s budget to 220 billion euros. MEPs also propose maintaining the Widening instrument's share at 3.3% of the budget.

Parliament also emphasises that research policy should not be directly subordinate to industrial policy. Although the Commission’s proposal envisages a stronger link between the Horizon program and the planned European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), MEPs believe that research priorities should continue to be driven primarily by the scientific community.

Greater Autonomy for the ERC

A significant part of the proposal concerns the first pillar, namely support for excellent science. Parliament seeks to strengthen the European Research Council's (ERC) autonomy. It therefore proposes transferring most of the ERC’s governance rules directly into the program’s basic regulation, thereby limiting the European Commission’s interference in the Council’s operations.

The report also includes a proposal for a new program for small collaborative basic research projects, tentatively named Fast Track Excellence. This instrument is intended to support new scientific collaborations through smaller projects of up to two million euros with an accelerated proposal evaluation process.

A New Approach to Program Development in the Second Pillar

In the second pillar, Parliament proposes a significant change in how work programs are prepared. Instead of a heavily politically driven process, calls for proposals should be prepared by expert teams from individual scientific and technological fields.

These teams would operate within three-year programming cycles, and their proposals would subsequently be formally approved by committees, as has been the case to date (i.e., through the so-called comitology procedure). The aim is to strengthen the role of scientific expertise in setting research priorities.

The work programs themselves would also follow the rotation cycle of the expert groups. According to the Parliament’s proposal, three work programs (two 3-year and one 2-year) are to be established, each of which would share one year.

As in the first pillar, the report proposes a new instrument for so-called European technology demonstrators in the second pillar, implemented through bottom-up collaborative calls involving at least four partners. Parliament justifies the proposal for these new instruments with the need to respond flexibly to demand from the innovation sector.

A stronger role for joint undertakings

The Parliament also signals a shift toward broader use of Joint Undertakings, which could combine funding from the Horizon program, the European Competitiveness Fund, and the private sector. These structures should be established primarily in areas with a strong European industrial strategy.

A new instrument for researchers at risk

The report also includes a proposal to create a European program to support researchers in need. This would include a grant scheme, a coordination platform for national initiatives, and support for the creation of similar programs in Member States.

Next steps

The publication of the draft report will be followed by presentations in European Parliament committees on March 23–24. MEPs may submit amendments until April 9. The Parliament’s goal is to reach a negotiating position by the summer.

In about a month, the Parliament will issue a similar report, this time focusing on the European Competitiveness Fund.

You can read the full report on the European Parliament’s website.