The EU’s research partnerships – comprising 12 joint undertakings (JUs) and assimilated bodies – kept their finances in good order overall in 2025, according to the annual audit by the European Court of Auditors (ECA). However, the auditors issued a qualified opinion on the payments of the Global Health EDCTP3 JU. They also highlighted persistent errors in grant payments (mainly staff costs), uneven progress in implementing EU research programmes, and the risk of additional costs and delays in the ITER nuclear fusion project due to ongoing and significant changes in technical design requirements.
The EU research partnerships, which employ around 800 people and implement around €4 billion of payments, support research and innovation in strategically important fields such as clean mobility and energy, semiconductors, supercomputing and artificial intelligence, health, cybersecurity, and advanced communications.
The JUs and assimilated bodies implemented an average of 73 % of their 2025 payment budgets, although implementation varied considerably. Lengthy decision-making processes and complex procedures for spending were among the main reasons for the differences. On average, the overall target for members’ contributions to the JUs under Horizon 2020 was reached by the end of 2025. However, progress on programme implementation under Horizon Europe was uneven. As in previous years, the auditors noted that a number of JUs continue to show a significant shortfall in private-sector contributions.
For 2025, the auditors gave a clean opinion on the reliability of the accounts for all 12 JUs and assimilated bodies, and concluded that their revenue and payments were legal and regular. Only the Global Health EDCTP3 JU received a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of its payments because of errors detected at beneficiary level for the majority of the transactions that were examined.
“The EU joint undertakings channel billions of euros into areas that are crucial for the EU’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy”, said Lucian Romașcanu, the ECA Member in charge of the annual audit. “Their accounts are reliable and their spending is regular overall, but better risk analysis is needed to prevent recurring errors in payments”.
Detailed checks showed that, across the JUs, errors persisted in grant payments, such as the use of incorrect rates for charging staff costs by beneficiaries and the inclusion of ineligible costs. In this regard, the auditors noted no significant differences between Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, despite the simplifications made in the latter programme to facilitate beneficiaries’ cost reporting. In addition, the auditors call on eight JUs to carry out a risk-based approach to grant management and to estimate an error rate for their share of Horizon Europe expenditure.
As regards Fusion for Energy (F4E), which manages Europe’s contribution to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, the auditors warn that continuing and significant changes in ITER’s technical design could drive up costs further and cause additional construction delays. To limit these risks, the auditors urge F4E to reinforce cooperation with the ITER International Fusion Energy Organization to help to stabilise the project’s design.