We applaud improvements that reinforce FP10’s focus on excellent research and innovation, including the limitations of activities up to TRL 8 and the removal of actions better suited to the ECF.
We also welcome strengthened support for the autonomy of the European Research Council (ERC), the decision to make all legal entities globally eligible by default, and the introduction of long-requested bottom-up collaborative instruments.
Despite this progress, several concerns remain. The Council has not sufficiently addressed the tight connection between FP10 and the ECF, proposed by the Commission. The joint priority-setting proposal of the Council for the ECF and FP10’s Pillar 2 falls short on providing a role to experts on state-of-the-art and emerging technologies. We call on the EU institutions to agree on connections between the ECF and FP10 that are more fit for purpose, including by removing the EU preference rules and accelerated and targeted actions from the ECF rules applicable to FP10.
We reiterate the importance of preserving FP10 as a civilian programme. Furthermore, we find the cap on the EIC’s funding for defence technologies to be insufficient and argue that defence-related development should instead be funded through the ECF.
We further caution against using FP10 to finance the construction of large research and technology infrastructure, as more suitable EU instruments already exist. Any cap on Pillar 4 funding should be low to avoid diverting resources from smaller infrastructures that researchers rely on daily.
The Guild remains committed to engaging with the EU institutions, including the Council to ensure that FP10 launches on 1 January 2028 as an ambitious, excellence-driven programme that strengthens Europe’s scientific leadership, competitiveness, resilience and prosperity.
With the PGA the Council sends a message of unity, because discussions between the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission on the FP10 (and the related ECF) regulations must begin this autumn. But while we welcome a number of proposed amendments, key concerns remain, not least around the proposed relationship between the ECF and FP10. Member states of course must frame the overall goals of both programmes, but they cannot involve themselves in the details of how these programmes work – that must be left to experts, those who understand best how to maximise their impact!
Secretary-General of The Guild, Jan Palmowski