On 26 June 2026, EU member-state ministers meeting in the Competitiveness Council reached a partial general approach on the legislative package establishing FP10, the European Union’s tenth research and innovation Framework Programme, covering 2028 through 2034. The agreement is the Council’s negotiating position on the Regulation establishing the programme and the Decision on its Specific Programme — a real, concrete milestone, but not final adoption. FP10 will succeed Horizon Europe (2021-2027), and its headline figure, a proposed EUR175 billion, would make it roughly double the current programme’s EUR93.5 billion budget. This page summarizes where things actually stand and what remains genuinely open.
What the Council Agreed on 26 June 2026
A “general approach” is how the Council of the EU signals it has settled its own negotiating position on a legislative proposal before talks begin with the European Parliament. The Council’s position on FP10 is explicitly partial: ministers agreed the text on most of the programme’s substance and structure, but the most financially and politically sensitive elements — budget allocations by pillar and instrument, and other issues reserved for higher-level political discussion — were left open, because they are entangled with the EU’s much larger Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028-2034 negotiation, which covers the entire EU budget, not just research. In practice, this means the Council has agreed on how FP10 would be structured and governed, while the “how much, for what” questions are still being fought out at a higher political level.
The Commission’s Original Proposal: EUR175 Billion and a New Fourth Pillar
The starting point for these negotiations is the European Commission’s own legislative proposal, published 17 July 2025 under the banner “Horizon Europe (2028-2034): twice bigger, simpler, faster, more impactful.” The Commission proposed a EUR175 billion budget (current prices) for the seven-year programme, and a restructured architecture: rather than Horizon Europe’s current three pillars plus a separate cross-cutting “Widening Participation and Strengthening the European Research Area” component, the Commission’s FP10 proposal groups activity into four pillars — Excellent Science, Competitiveness and Society, Innovation, and a standalone European Research Area (ERA) pillar. The proposal also describes closer integration with the proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), and materials accompanying the proposal describe continued support for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions under Pillar I alongside a new emphasis on attracting international talent. These structural and budgetary figures are the Commission’s proposal — the actual figures member states and the Parliament ultimately agree to could still move in either direction before final adoption.
How EUR175 Billion Compares to Horizon Europe’s Current Budget
Horizon Europe’s own indicative budget for 2021-2027 is EUR93.5 billion (some secondary sources cite a higher figure including top-ups and external assigned revenue). A EUR175 billion FP10 would represent close to a doubling in nominal terms over a programme of similar length — which is exactly the framing the Commission itself used in the proposal’s title. Whether that increase survives intact through the MFF negotiation is one of the central open questions covered below; framework programme proposals have historically been trimmed during Council and Parliament negotiation in past cycles, so treat EUR175 billion as the Commission’s asking figure rather than a settled outcome.
What’s Still Unresolved
- The overall MFF 2028-2034 envelope — FP10’s real budget depends on the outcome of the EU’s total seven-year spending negotiation, which involves all EU policy areas, not just research, and is negotiated separately at head-of-state level.
- Pillar-by-pillar budget allocation — even once a topline figure is fixed, how it is split across the four pillars, the European Research Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and other instruments remains to be agreed.
- The European Parliament’s position — the Parliament’s lead committee rapporteurs circulated draft reports and suggested amendments earlier in 2026; the Parliament’s own formal negotiating position was still being finalized as of this writing, with research-policy trackers pointing to around October 2026 as a plausible point at which Parliament settles its position.
- Trilogue negotiations — once Council and Parliament each have a position, the Commission, Council, and Parliament negotiate the final text in trilogue meetings. That process has not yet begun in earnest and is where the most significant remaining changes typically happen.
Timeline: What Happens Next
Research-policy organizations tracking the file, including the European University Association (EUA) and Science Europe, generally expect the legislative process — Council and Parliament negotiations plus trilogue — to conclude with final adoption of the FP10 package before the end of 2027, so the programme can launch on schedule in January 2028. That timeline is realistic but not guaranteed: EU framework programme negotiations have run late before, and FP10’s fate is tied to the broader MFF timeline, which has its own political pressure points. Nothing about current Horizon Europe (2021-2027) grant agreements, calls, or reporting obligations changes because of this negotiation — the existing programme continues to run on its own terms until FP10 actually takes effect.
What This Means for Research Administrators Right Now
For institutions and grants offices, the practical takeaway at this stage is: the direction of travel (a larger overall budget, a restructured four-pillar architecture, continuity for MSCA and likely the ERC) is reasonably clear, but none of the numbers that matter for institutional planning — actual pillar allocations, instrument-level budgets, indirect-cost rules, or call structures — are fixed yet. It is too early to plan specific FP10 proposals or budgets around any figure in this page; it is a reasonable time to start tracking the file (via national contact points, EUA, Science Europe, or your own government’s EU liaison office) so your institution isn’t caught flat-footed when the Specific Programme and first work programmes are finalized closer to 2028.
A Snapshot, Not a Final Answer
This page reflects the publicly available state of FP10 negotiations as of the Council’s 26 June 2026 partial general approach and subsequent reporting. EU legislative negotiations of this scale move in stages over months, and figures, structures, and timelines described here can and likely will change before final adoption. Treat the EUR175 billion figure and four-pillar structure as the current proposal under negotiation, not settled fact, and re-check primary sources (the European Commission’s Horizon Europe pages, the Council of the EU’s press releases, and the European Parliament’s legislative observatory) before relying on specifics for institutional planning.
Related CASRAI resources
- Horizon Europe and EU Research Funding: An Overview — the current (2021-2027) programme’s structure, pillars, and budget, for comparison against what FP10 proposes to change.
- Horizon Europe FAIR Data Management Plan: Requirements & Template — DMP obligations under the current programme; FP10-specific DMP requirements are not yet defined.
- Horizon Europe Success Rates: What the Data Shows by Pillar and Call
- Horizon Europe National Contact Points (NCPs): How the Network Supports Applicants
- European Research Council (ERC)
- Grants Management & Research Funding — the CASRAI hub for international funding-body coverage.
