Council agrees on new ERA Policy Agenda and launches ERA policy cycle 2025-2027

After 2 years of preparatory work in the ERA Forum, ERAC, and finally in the Council, a political agreement on the Council Recommendation for the second ERA Policy Agenda (EPA) 2025-2027 was reached at the meeting of EU research ministers in Brussels on 23 May 2025. The formal adoption and publication of the legal act will follow in the coming weeks. The new EPA contains 11 “ERA Structural Policies” and 8 “ERA Actions”, encompassing a rich portfolio of measures to enhance the ERA, see the list below. The new EPA enters into force with a delay of half a year because it was decided that the new European Commission should make the proposal.

In the course of the preparations for the new EPA, the new ERA governance proved to be duly effective, especially given the setting in the ERA Forum, where the Commission, Member States, Associated Countries and stakeholders work together in a spirit of co-creation and on a level playing field. Notably the involvement of the stakeholder (umbrella) organisations proved to be effective, bringing in a lot of additional expertise and commitment.

With the EPA being adopted, this is where the real work begins, with implementing the many recommended activities at both EU and national levels. Austria has already started its work on a second national ERA Action Plan, which will be presented at the 3rd Austrian ERA Symposium on 17 November 2025 in Vienna.

EPA 2025-2027 - ERA Structural Policies

• Enabling open science via sharing and re-use of data, including through the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC)
• Strengthening sustainability, accessibility and resilience of research infrastructures in the ERA
• Strengthening gender equality and inclusiveness in the ERA, notably with an intersectional approach
• Making research careers more attractive and sustainable, and support mobility
• Reforming research assessment
• Upscaling knowledge valorisation capacities and activities
• Implementing the Global Approach to R&I
• Making the strategic energy technology (SET) plan a key thematic component of the ERA
• Improving the articulation between R&I and higher education within the ERA and unleashing the full potential of European R&I ecosystems
• Enhancing trust in science through citizen participation, engagement and science communication
• Improve EU access to excellence.

EPA 2025-2027 - ERA Actions

• Applying equity in open science
• Advancing the European Science for Policy (S4P) ecosystem
• Facilitating and accelerating the responsible use of AI in science in the EU
• Enhancing research security
• Accelerating R&I investments for Europe’s industrial transformation and competitive sustainability
• Accelerating new approach methodologies (NAMs) to advance biomedical research and testing of medicinal products and medical devices
• Developing a coherent and coordinated framework for a European approach to integrity and ethics in R&I in the face of emerging challenges.
• Empowering R&I: A new era in research management.