Council signs off on Swiss re-association to Horizon Europe

The Council of the EU has signed off a deal allowing Switzerland to re-associate to the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, taking a further step towards ending years of limbo for Swiss researchers. 

Within the same package, the Council green-lighted Switzerland joining a swathe of other EU science and technology schemes, including the Euratom nuclear programme, the ITER prototype fusion reactor being built in France, the Erasmus+ student mobility scheme, as well as Digital Europe and EU4Health.

“In the current complex and evolving geopolitical context, our relationship needs to be expanded and modernised to be better fit for the future,” said Marie Bjerre, minister for European affairs in the government of Denmark, the EU country holding the rotating presidency of the Council until the end of the year. 

“This is exactly what we achieved today with our decision on Switzerland’s association to EU research and innovation programmes as of the beginning of this year,” Bjerre said. 

Under transitional measures, Swiss researchers have been allowed to apply for Horizon Europe funding since the beginning of the year after Brussels and Bern agreed to a wider package of deals last December. 

Today’s decision by the Council is the latest step towards the part of that deal covering association to EU programmes being fully ratified by various EU and Swiss institutions. 

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Switzerland’s Federal Council approved the deal in April. Switzerland was also granted access to sensitive Horizon Europe calls in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, communications and space earlier this year. 

The association deal needs to be fully approved before Swiss applicants can actually receive any money from Horizon Europe.

According to today’s Council statement, there are still several more steps to go. The Commission is set to sign the agreement in Bern on November 10. After that, the Commission will ask for a green light from the European Parliament. And then, so long as Switzerland reassures the EU it will implement the deal, the Council should give it a final stamp of approval. 

The agreement should end years of acrimony over the relationship. In 2021, Bern pulled out of talks with the EU over an overarching deal on its relations, meaning that Switzerland has been outside of Horizon Europe, which started in 2021, until this year.

The deal with the EU is likely to face a referendum from Swiss voters before 2028. If it returned a no vote, it would throw relations with Brussels back into confusion, and likely see Switzerland unable to join the successor programme to Horizon Europe, due to start in 2028.