LERU urges the Irish Presidency to give research, innovation and education a strong financial foundation in the next EU budget
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) calls on the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU to give Europe’s ambitions for research, innovation and education a credible financial foundation in the negotiating box for the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034, expected on Saturday 10 October. Ahead of the October European Council, Member States must make meaningful progress towards a budget that matches Europe’s responsibilities and investment needs.
Recent developments make the case particularly compelling. The just published European Commission’s Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU 2026 report identifies insufficient investment and fragmentation as obstacles to Europe’s performance. Europe retains considerable scientific strengths, but needs to do more to translate them into productivity, technological leadership and prosperity. For LERU, the implication is clear: substantially greater investment in research and innovation must underpin Europe’s competitiveness agenda.
This week’s Nobel Prizes offer a powerful reminder of what sustained scientific endeavour can achieve. The recognition of Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for optogenetics, Francis Halzen for his contributions to neutrino astronomy, and Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai for their work on molecular chirality illustrates the extraordinary reach of fundamental research. LERU particularly celebrates the recognition of KU Leuven alumnus Francis Halzen and University Paris-Saclay's professor emeritus Henri Kagan.
These achievements reinforce a central message for Europe’s budget negotiations: scientific breakthroughs require time, talent, international cooperation and the freedom to pursue questions whose significance may only become apparent much later.
“Europe cannot celebrate scientific breakthroughs one day and undermine the conditions that make them possible the next,” says Professor Kurt Deketelaere, Secretary-General of LERU. “The Nobel Prizes remind us why patient investment in research matters. The Commission’s own performance report shows why Europe urgently needs to increase that investment. The next MFF must act on both messages.”
The European Court of Auditors has, earlier this week, also warned that growing EU debt risks leaving a hole in the next long-term budget unless governments agree on new revenue sources. For LERU, this reinforces the urgency of agreeing credible new own resources and preventing repayment obligations from squeezing investment in Europe’s future.
LERU recognises the Irish Presidency’s difficult task in reconciling national positions. However, demands for sweeping budget cuts alongside ever greater European responsibilities are politically incoherent. The Union needs sufficient resources and flexibility to address emerging needs without repeatedly raiding established programmes. The prospect of future revenues cannot justify underfunding those programmes from the outset.
The negotiating box will not settle every question concerning FP10, the European Competitiveness Fund (ECF), Erasmus+ or their internal allocations. Many decisions belong in the sectoral negotiations. Its essential task is to establish a financial framework that makes ambitious subsequent agreements possible. An inadequate MFF would constrain those choices before they can properly be made.
LERU therefore calls for a negotiating box that creates the conditions for:
- An FP10 budget of at least €200 billion, protected and accompanied by genuine programme autonomy, supporting excellence across the full breadth of research and innovation.
- At least a doubling of the European Research Council’s budget and substantially stronger Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, preserving scientific independence, bottom-up research and openness to all disciplines.
- An adequately funded European Competitiveness Fund, complementing FP10 and supporting the progression from research to innovation, deployment and scale. Purely military research must be funded through the ECF, outside FP10.
- An Erasmus+ budget of at least €60 billion, supporting accessible mobility and educational cooperation, with additional resources for additional responsibilities.
The subsequent programme agreements must also safeguard academic freedom, institutional autonomy and open international cooperation, while delivering simpler rules. Member States must strengthen investment at home: European funding cannot compensate for national retreat from research, innovation and education.
“The test for the negotiating box is whether it leaves Europe able to deliver on its promises,” concludes Deketelaere. “The Irish Presidency and the 27 Member States must provide the financial foundation for ambitious programme agreements. Research, innovation and education are essential to Europe’s future prosperity. They must not become the balancing item in a budget deal.”
Many of these messages are also reflected in today's published report on “Investing in What Makes Europe Strong: Research and Innovation in the Next EU Budget”, the event jointly organised by LERU, CESAER, Coimbra Group, EUA, EU-LIFE, The Guild and YERUN on 9 September 2026. The report brings together the key messages and outcomes of the discussions, providing a timely contribution to the negotiations ahead.