LERU welcomes the European Commission (EC)’s proposal for the next Framework Programme (FP) for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe (FP9). Funding for research and innovation (R&I) at EU level has an enormous added value. It generates an EU-wide competition for excellence, stimulates the mobility of researchers and funds international, interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaboration. Through the FP, the EU strengthens its knowledge base, stimulates innovation and addresses global challenges. The LERU universities are, and have been for many years, among the top participants in the EU FPs for research and innovation. LERU has been a strong supporter of the FPs and has actively contributed over many years to shaping and improving them. In June 2017 a paper setting out LERU’s views for FP9 was published and in April 2018 we published a paper on impact and the FP. We are pleased that the EC has been receptive to our ideas and suggestions when designing Horizon Europe.

However, despite the good work by Carlos Moedas and his team, there are still a number of aspects of the proposal that could be improved. On 15 June, LERU and 13 other European university associations published a joint response to the Horizon Europe proposal, and on 29 June LERU, together with 12 of these organisations, submitted joint amendments to the Horizon Europe legal texts. This statement repeats the key messages from these joint statements and amendments, but adds some more specific LERU views to these. It also includes our main comments on the draft reports of the EP rapporteurs for Horizon Europe, Dan Nica and Christian Ehler. In this statement, LERU highlights, in 10 points, areas for improvement and which aspects of the original EC proposal LERU strongly supports and thinks should be maintained.