FP10: Horizon Europe and the Competitiveness Fund

Tile diagram of the budget of the European Competitiveness Fund, including the research framework programme “Horizon Europe”. The size of each tile is proportional to the corresponding allocated budget. Budgets with substantive links to the ECF (Pillar 2 – Competitiveness segment) are highlighted with green hatching. Sources: European Commission (2025): A Dynamic EU Budget for the Priorities of the Future – The Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–2034, pp. 9, 35. European Commission (2025): Establishing Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, for the Period 2028–2034, Laying Down Its Rules for Participation and Dissemination, p. II-15.

On 16 July 2025, the European Commission published the first, and on 3 September 2025 the second package of its proposal for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034. These include, among other things, proposals for the design of the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (FP10) and the European Competitiveness Fund, which are intended to be closely interlinked. This marks the first concrete step in the political debate on shaping the next Framework Programme.

For the MFF 2028–2034, the European Commission has proposed a total budget of €1,985 billion, of which €175 billion are earmarked for the research framework programme Horizon Europe. Based on €96 billion for the current framework programme, this represents a nominal budget increase of 83%.

In the Commission’s proposal, Horizon Europe is integrated both financially and programmatically as part of the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), although it “remains an autonomous framework programme”. The ECF is to be endowed with a total of €409 billion, of which, in addition to the funds for Horizon Europe, €234 billion are to be made available for measures to strengthen competitiveness in four policy windows:

Distribution of the proposed budget allocations between the European Competitiveness Fund and the research framework programme Horizon Europe across the four policy windows. Sources: European Commission (2025): A Dynamic EU Budget for the Priorities of the Future – The Multiannual Financial Framework 2028–2034, p. 35; European Commission (2025): Establishing Horizon Europe, the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, for the Period 2028–2034. Laying Down Its Rules for Participation and Dissemination, p. 24.