15 Oct 2026
Heitor Group members call on Council, EP and EC to refrain from cuts to future Horizon Europe programme
Manuel Heitor and the members of the Horizon Europe interim evaluation expert group ("the Heitor group") have sent an open letter to the Presidents of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission. The letter, dated 13 October 2026, was sent following the Irish Council Presidency's presentation of the new "negotiation box" with revised budget figures for the EU budget 2028-2034, which provides considerable reductions of the Horizon Europe (2028-2034) budget compared to the European Commission's proposal.
The Heitor Group members call their letter "a wake-up call for Europe" and state that FP10 should be big and substantive to make a difference for European competitiveness. The current proposal of around €158 billion "moves in a totally wrong direction". The Heitor Group's analysis of 2024, which the Group stresses had been "well researched, evidenced and argued and still stands", recommended at least €220 billion for the next European Research Framework Programme. Amongst other issues, the open letter emphasises the importance of European R&I to make Europe able to face the new challenges posed by AI, and that science, technology and innovation are the "critical currency" for addressing the grand challenges such as climate change, escalating conflicts, increasing global competition etc.
The letter points out that the budget is still being negotiated, and that now is the time for the research and innovation community to speak up, with evidence, to national governments and MEPs.