European Commission refuses to comment on optimistic reports about an agreement about to be announced for the UK to join flagship EU research programme after years of delay

Christian Ehler worries about reopening the Brexit deal and jeopardising association negotiations with Japan and Canada. His intervention comes as the UK looks set to delay any decision on Horizon association until after the summer

After a two-year stand-off, followed by a wave of optimism when the stalemate over Northern Ireland trading arrangements finally ended back in March, a deal on UK association seems to be getting closer. So what took so long?

Media reports of a draft deal between the two sides remain unconfirmed by EU officials, but various groups in the research community have welcomed positive signs

Talks are dragging on, and the government evidently is not optimistic about agreeing association this side of the summer recess

Talks between the European Commission and the UK government continue, as the argument about how much the UK pays to join the research programme drags on

London and Brussels are still to agree on terms for the UK to join the €95.5B research programme and in response to pleas from researchers, the prime minister sends a mixed message on getting association over the line

Science leaders once more make the case for UK joining the €95.5B research programme. ‘Association with Horizon is crucial for the success of UK science and therefore the future of our country’, MPs are told

The long-awaited, go-it-alone alternative for international collaboration in research gets an equivocal reception from the UK science establishment, which is still firmly in favour of joining the EU programme  

UK science and technology minister Michelle Donelan is in Brussels today to meet EU research commissioner Mariya Gabriel and set the scene for upcoming association talks