UK Horizon Europe association ‘close after draft deal with EU’

Hopes have been raised that the UK will soon rejoin Horizon Europe after media reports that British and EU negotiators have agreed a draft deal on Britain’s return to the €95 billion (£80 billion) research scheme.

According to a story on the Politico website, officials from Whitehall and Brussels have hammered out an outline deal on the cost of the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe, which will be presented to Rishi Sunak over the weekend.

The draft deal comes ahead of a meeting between the UK prime minister and the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, on 11 July when the final agreement might be confirmed, said Politico, which had spoken to two government officials involved in the deal.

Under the proposed deal, the UK will join Horizon Europe – the seven-year framework that began in 2021 – and the Copernicus Earth observation programme, but not Euratom’s nuclear energy scheme, which was deemed “poor value for money”, according to the quoted official.

The potential sign-off would end months of deadlock over the UK’s membership of Horizon Europe, which was held up for about two years after Boris Johnson’s administration sought to rewrite parts of the Brexit deal around Northern Ireland trade, causing the EU to halt talks on Horizon.

Talks restarted in March after Mr Sunak and Ms von der Leyen struck the Windsor Framework to resolve the Irish border question, but have stalled over the likely cost of Britain’s net contributions to Horizon. Officials feared the UK’s two-year removal from the scheme meant its researchers would struggle to recoup sufficient funds in Horizon’s final five years, particularly as they were prevented from leading research collaborations.

News of the post-Brexit return to Horizon was welcomed by sector leaders, with Liam Smeeth, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, calling the potential development a “major step forward for UK science”.

Sarah Main, executive director at Campaign for Science and Engineering, called the news an “encouraging development”.

“If confirmed, this raises the promising prospect of a deal within days, which would be the best of news for UK science,” said Professor Main, adding: “I urge the prime minister and president of the European Commission to secure this agreement, enabling researchers to get on with the vital role they play in improving people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Greg Clark MP, chair of the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, said it was a “welcome sign of progress”, adding: “We look forward to examining any agreement that is reached.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com