2024 was an important year for the European Union, as it was the year of the most recent European Parliament elections.
In November, following a debate with Ursula von der Leyen on her new team and programme, the newly elected European Parliament voted to confirm her as the new head of the European Commission and to elect the College of Commissioners – one from each EU Member State. This will be Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as Commission President following her election in 2019.
What we know about the new R&I Commissioner
The new Commission is now in office, with Ekaterina Zaharieva elected Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation.
Earlier in November, Commissioner Zaharieva appeared for her confirmation hearing before the Committees on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and Culture and Education (CULT). UKRO has published an analysis of her confirmation hearing with MEPs, which can be accessed via the UKRO portal.
UKRO has also published an analysis of Zaharieva’s mission letter, which President von der Leyen addressed to her earlier in the year. The letter restates the principles outlined in von der Leyen’s political guidelines (PDF, 8.1 MB) and illustrates Zaharieva’s mission as Commissioner.
Below is a short analysis of the questions raised by MEPs and Zaharieva’s answers:
- Zaharieva said Horizon Europe’s successor should be “more focused” and have “more targeted priorities.”
- When comments were made on the hurdles applicants face, Zaharieva said she plans to work for simplification in the programme. She added that the European Innovation Act would be the primary tool for simplification.
- Zaharieva announced that she plans to propose a framework for the 28th regime with Justice Commissioner-designate Michael McGrath. This framework would provide an EU-wide legal status for upstart companies and help overcome the current fragmentation of corporate law across Europe.
- Zaharieva announced she plans to use AI to help SMEs identify and access funding opportunities. MEPs generally reacted well to her strategy to support SMEs’ access to EU funding.
- When asked about the European Innovation Council, she acknowledged the need to shorten the time to award funding and strengthen managers’ competencies.
- Zaharieva confirmed her commitment to the 35% target spending on climate in the Framework Programme.
- Zaharieva linked competitiveness to security, stating, “We are not going to be competitive without being secure”. She reiterated that “European Union security is very much connected with what happened in Ukraine” and that the EU will help Ukraine win the war and support them as long as necessary.
- Zaharieva claimed to be in favour of increased funding for defence-related research. When asked to guarantee that military R&I will not be funded at the expense of civilian priorities (particularly climate and environmental protections), Zaharieva confirmed that the European Defence Fund will be separate from the Horizon Europe programme.
- Faced with comments on the issue of brain drain, Zaharieva offered to urgently “create and propose minimum standards, better salaries, better conditions, good contracts for our researchers.” She also plans to improve research infrastructures and make these professions more attractive for women.
Commissioner Zaharieva will work under the guidance of the Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and the Industrial Strategy. She will also work under the guidance of the Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. This reflects the importance of competitiveness and security for the second von der Leyen Commission.
Impact on the Horizon Europe Work Programme for 2025
As the Work Programmes of Horizon Europe and other centrally-managed EU funding programmes address the political priorities of the European Commission, the 2025 Work Programme of Horizon Europe could only be published once the new College of Commissioners was in place. As previously reported, UKRO understands this will be published in Q1 2025.
While UKRO is not in a position to share the draft Horizon Europe Work Programmes for 2025, we have published an analysis of von der Leyen’s political priorities to explain how this will impact EU policy in the coming years.
In her political guidelines for the new mandate, von der Leyen pledged to put research and innovation at the heart of the EU’s economy through a European Prosperity Plan. Her proposals for research and innovation include:
- Ensuring access to new, tailored supercomputing capacity for AI start-ups and industry through an AI Factories initiative.
- Developing an Apply AI Strategy with Member States, industry and civil society to boost new industrial uses of AI and to improve the delivery of a variety of public services, such as healthcare.
- Setting up a European AI Research Council based on the approach taken with CERN.
- Putting forward a European Data Union Strategy, drawing on existing data rules to ensure a simplified, clear and coherent legal framework for businesses and administrations to share data seamlessly and at scale, while respecting
high privacy and security standards. - Expanding the European Research Council and the European Innovation Council.
- Proposing a new European Biotech Act in 2025 as part of a broader Strategy for European Life Sciences.
- Fostering new public-private partnerships, such as joint undertakings.
- Attracting new talents and retaining the best and brightest minds in Europe by strengthening University Alliances.
- Investing in research capacity for strategic and dual-use technologies.
More specifically, below are the key points from von der Leyen’s mission letter to Commissioner Zaharieva, outlining the work she will undertake over the next five years:
- Work to expand the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Research Council (ERC).
- Propose a European Research Area (ERA) Act to guarantee a “fifth freedom”, namely the freedom of movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and technology.
- Develop a long-term strategy to boost European Research Infrastructure to create a pan-European ecosystem of research infrastructures and services.
- Strengthen and incentivise cooperation between academic, private, and public sector entities to create attractive career perspectives, including by strengthening the University Alliances.
- Work on a European Innovation Act to streamline the EU’s regulatory framework and facilitate access to venture capital for innovative startups and scaleups.
- Develop an EU start-up and scale-up strategy that improves the framework conditions for start-ups and scale-ups.
- Create a network of Trusted Investors to foster co-investments with the EIC Fund.
- Prepare a multi-disciplinary Strategy for European Life Sciences and contribute to the EU Biotech Act and the updated bioeconomy strategy.
- Work on an Advanced Materials Act to support the research and innovation process through manufacturing and deployment.
- Set up a European AI Research Council to increase the uptake of AI by European scientists.
- Strengthen the EU’s research security and economic security. In this context, work on identifying and harnessing the EU’s dual-use and civil-military potential.
- Reinforce international research and innovation cooperation to address EU dependencies in strategic sectors. Identify partners for cooperation in critical technology areas through Global Gateway projects.
- Lead the implementation and oversee the allocation of funding from EU research and innovation programmes, such as Horizon Europe, and ensure that these resources are used effectively to achieve the highest scientific excellence and impact standards.
- Simplify access to funding for SMEs and small midcaps.
- Ensure that research funded through the EU Missions achieves its goals by 2030 and that all the instruments of the EU Framework Programmes are used to their full potential.
- Contribute to further developing the New European Bauhaus, focusing on innovation and bio-based materials.
End-of-year recap
Earlier this year, the Commission published an amendment to the 2023-24 Horizon Europe Work Programme, which included some of the 2025 funding opportunities in those parts of Horizon Europe that do not address the political priorities of the Commission. The European Commission has also adopted the ERC 2025 Work Programme.
The publication of this Work Programme part was delayed because of the political discussions on the New European Bauhaus (NEB), which the Member States blocked. While the NEB will no longer continue as a fully-fledged Mission, the amended 2023-2024 Work Programme added a dedicated NEB destination to the cross-cutting section for the existing Missions, worth around €20 million. The NEB destination will operate at the level of neighbourhoods and communities to reflect the close link between the circularity and renovation of the built environment and the social and cultural dimension of places, aiming to seek results which are immediately implementable.
Separate from the political process, the Commission also finalised the next Horizon Europe Strategic Plan for the period 2025-27. Like the previous Strategic Plan – covering the programme’s first four years – it defines the key strategic orientations for the last years of Horizon Europe, which will eventually be translated into the upcoming Horizon Europe Work Programmes.
Finally, the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research, and Energy (ITRE) published a draft report on the assessment of the implementation of Horizon Europe. According to the report, FP10 has to be free from its policy planning and bureaucratic aspects and seek to fund R&I projects at the frontiers of knowledge and technology.
The report recommends that for the remainder of Horizon Europe, there should be no further funding of missions under the 2025, 2026, and 2027 Work Programmes; additional funding for these instruments should be found elsewhere in EU and national budgets. It recommends that lump sum funding be reduced and the Heitor report’s call for a co-funding line urgently be implemented in 2025. Looking ahead to FP10, the report also calls for a substantially higher budget and recommends that FP10 has a reformed governance structure based on the Heitor and Draghi reports.
The ITRE draft report has been received with differing views across the board. The ITRE committee will continue discussing its findings and recommendations for FP10.
UKRO welcomes any input from ELOs and will inform subscribers about any developments via the UKRO Portal.