On 19 May, a leaked memo from the European Commission further confirmed its ambition to structure the forthcoming European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) around five main pillars, encompassing most research and innovation (R&I) programmes, as part of its long-awaited proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the EU’s long-term budget for 2028–2034. However, only the day after, on 20 May, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech at the Annual EU Budget Conference 2025 declared that the Union’s R&I framework programme, Horizon Europe, would remain “self-standing”, further adding to the confusion on the topic. Ahead of the official publication of the ECF proposal on 16 July, the research community is increasingly turning to the Horizon Europe 2026 and 2027 draft work programmes to understand whichfunding priorities and trends are likely to remain part of the next R&I Framework Programme and EU budget.

According to the above-mentioned leaked document, the next MFF, will be structured around three pillars – Member States’ plans, competitiveness and external action – is set to be “simpler, more focused and more flexible”, with fewer programmes, and a higher share of unprogrammed amounts. While the European Commission recognises that Horizon Europe contributes to the Union’s competitiveness, it finds the support provided by the programme to be “fragmented and incomplete”.

With the Competitiveness Fund, the EU Commission intends to bring more coherence and support, along the entire investment journey, from research, through scale-up and industrial deployment, to manufacturing. The ECF’s proposed organisation would see the creation of “sectoral windows” on the clean transition; the digital transition; resilience, defence and space; health and biotech; and research, supported by a common financial toolbox comprising grants, guarantees, equity, auction as a service, and other financial tools. The structure would be overseen by an advisory board, gathering representatives from industry, research and the private sector.  

The window dedicated to research would “fund bottom-up and world-class innovations”, while the clean transition window would include the Innovation Fund – financing innovative low-carbon technologies through the revenue of the EU’s carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS) – as well as Horizon Europe’s Cluster 5 on Energy, Climate and Mobility, allowing for synergies between activities currently funded under different programmes.  

However, somewhat contradicting these plans, which would scatter the different pillars and clusters of Horizon Europe across the entire Competitiveness Fund, Ursula von der Leyen declared that the EU’s Framework Programme would remain “self-standing”, and only be “tightly connected” to the ECF, in order to ensure a “seamless flow” from early research to market. In addition, she emphasised the importance of the programme in developing groundbreaking research and in achieving scientific excellence.

Meanwhile, a large part of the research community is concerned with the questions of future budget reallocations as political priorities shift, and the modalities of the distribution of funds going forward, on top of preserving and improving the balance across the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) scale, and the overall budget allocated to research and innovation from 2028 onwards. Looking at early drafts of the 2026-2027 Horizon Europe Work Programmes indicates greater alignment with political priorities, in part thanks to pilot calls under Cluster 4 and 5 covering the EU’s new flagship decarbonisation package, the Clean Industrial Deal. Cluster 5 should further focus on critical raw materials dependency, batteries, the flexibility and reliance of our energy systems, and lowering energy consumption for the real estate and transport sectors. In any case, little is set in stone at this stage as the co-legislators are likely to clash over the structure of the Competitiveness Fund, the EU’s budget as a whole, and research and innovation funding.