21 Jul 2025
EUA welcomes EC's Horizon Europe 2028+ and Erasmus+ proposals
The European University Association (EUA) published an initial reaction to the European Commission’s proposals for the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2028–2034, on 18 July 2025. Generally speaking, the EUA welcomes the EC's "commitment to retain Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ as stand-alone programmes", stating that this "reaffirms the EU’s recognition of education, research and innovation as cornerstones of Europe's future and a strategic investment in its prosperity, resilience and global competitiveness, while promoting shared European values".
In its initial reaction, EUA positively highlights the proposed doubling of the Horizon Europe budget to €175 billion, but is concerned about the proposed alignment with the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), including shared governance and a single rulebook.
EUA also welcomes the proposed continuation of Erasmus+ as a stand-alone, comprehensive programme, and continuing to include the European Universities Initiative. Despite the welcome increase in the proposed budget for Erasmus+ to €40.8 billion, EUA expresses doubts about the programme’s ability to fund longstanding activities and new policy priorities due to factors such as inflation, and therefore calls on policy-makers to further increase the budget for Erasmus+.
Finally, EUA supports the Commission’s efforts to simplify access to funding, reduce administrative burden and preserve the core structures and values of both programmes, but remains concerned about the proposed use of lump sum funding as the default model. Instead, EUA calls for "a model reflecting the diversity of higher education and research practices and institutions across Europe".
Following this initial statement, EUA announces that it will now conduct in-depth analysis of each proposal, to be published in the coming months, and will will continue to engage actively with EU institutions and stakeholders throughout the negotiation process.
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