EU won’t demand Horizon contributions but UK launches alternative scheme

The UK government has launched its own domestic alternative to the Horizon Europe research and development programme despite receiving assurances from the European Commission that it will not be required to pay for the two years it has been locked out of the scheme. 

A spokesman for the European Commission said the EU has informed the UK government it “would not be required to contribute for the period it wasn’t associated to the programme, that is, 2021-2022.” 

That statement followed a meeting in Brussels between the UK’s Science and Technology Minister Michelle Donelan and EU Research Commissioner Mariya Gabriel earlier this month, where the UK delegation said it wanted to renegotiate its contributions to Horizon to take account of two years outside the programme.

UK access to Horizon Europe had been included as part of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which governs EU-UK relations post-Brexit but UK universities and researchers have been shut out of the programme after the European Commission tied the association status provided for in the TCA to the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol.   

After the agreement of the Windsor Framework between the UK and Commission in February, which both sides have now adopted into law, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that it would move quickly to conclude the UK’s association status with Horizon. 

The EU executive’s assurances about the UK’s contribution to Horizon should remove one of the biggest remaining hurdles to unblocking access to the research fund. 

There is also a strong EU interest in resolving the UK’s status. 

Earlier this month, EURACTIV reported that shutting out the UK has resulted in a budget shortfall for the European space programme because the UK has not paid €721 million in contributions to the space programme, which Horizon Europe finances. 

However, although the UK had been among the primary beneficiaries of EU research and development programmes, UK ministers argue that the two-year delay in access to Horizon has severely disadvantaged its universities and researchers since many projects are multi-year and have already begun without UK involvement. 

Last week, the UK government published its “Pioneer” programme, its domestic alternative to Horizon, that would receive the same amount of funding as the government would have paid to associate with Horizon from 2021 to 2027. This means the UK would invest around £14.6bn in the sector. 

“The strong preference of the academy and the wider global research and innovation community has always been for the UK to associate with Horizon Europe,” said Sir Jim McDonald, president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.  

“Should association prove impossible even at this late stage, the information in the prospectus for Pioneer will be helpful to the community,” he added. 

Read more with Euractiv

Austrian far-right chief insists on leading next government