EU ministers lobby Zaharieva to keep Widening going in FP10

The Widening games are on. Well ahead of a proposal by the European Commission for the next framework programme for research – due in the first half of 2025 – member states are getting ready for another round of haggling between “the friends of excellence” and countries with less-well developed research systems that benefit from the Widening programme.

A group of 15 EU research ministers penned a joint letter to outgoing research commissioner Iliana Ivanova and commissioner designate Ekaterina Zaharieva urging them to ensure FP10 maintains the Widening programme.

The 15 - Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia – insist FP10 needs to keep the 'Widening participation and spreading excellence' component and continue advancing research excellence in the EU.

These countries represent a comfortable blocking minority in the EU Council, where member states, the Parliament and the Commission will negotiate the details of FP10, which is due to start in 2028.

The 15 ministers see the future of the Widening programme in FP10 “not merely as a vital tool in addressing existing disparities, but as a testament to the collective strength of the EU's research landscape.”

During the negotiations on Horizon Europe, member states were divided in two camps that haggled over the scope and size of the Widening programme and the question of equal pay for researchers from poorer member states.

Because of this, negotiations dragged on longer than necessary and now the 15 member states signing the letter to Ivanova and Zaharieva want details on the performance gap in FP10 to be settled early on.

“We insist that negotiations on this aspect of the programme commence early in the process and not be deferred to the programme's conclusion, as was the case with Horizon Europe programme,” the letter says.

Spreading excellence

The signatories also call for a doubling of the Widening budget under FP10, saying they, “firmly assert that FP10 should retain key elements from the spreading excellence programme, while simultaneously integrating other actions across the programme to genuinely enhance research and innovation collaboration across Europe and overall participation of all EU member states in all pillars of FP10.”

'Widening participation and spreading excellence' was first introduced in Horizon 2020 and in Horizon Europe the measures have a budget of just under €3 billion, with 15 member states eligible for calls. It was set up to help lagging member states catch up with the EU’s innovation leaders and, according to the latest data, it seems to be bearing fruit, with lower performing countries increasing their share of grants from 9% in Horizon 2020 to 13% in the first half of Horizon Europe.

According to the Commission’s evaluation of the 2014 - 2020 Horizon 2020 programme, Widening schemes such as Twinning and Teaming, worked well. The review found 28% of the highly cited papers by academics in Widening countries were linked to Widening actions, showing their influence.

However, the letter argues that despite the improvements in participation seen in Horizon 2020, “the integration of [Widening] member states into established networks championed by the [Horizon Europe] remains a challenge.”

Widening measures are under pressure because several member states and lobby groups are lobbying for excellence to be the sole criteria for awarding grants through the Framework Programme. Denmark went even further and suggested the programme should be moved outside of FP10, saying the current Widening measures are “not optimal in terms of added value measured as widened participation”.

The proposal met with resistance from government ministries and research stakeholders in central and eastern Europe, who argue they are open to discussing the future of Widening measures, but disagree with axeing them from FP10.