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European Commission proposes 175 billion euros for Horizon Europe / Romania could obtain funding for research and technology development

Raluca Ioana Draghici

5 November 2026, 06:57

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The European Commission is proposing a budget of €175 billion for the future Horizon Europe programme, which would fund research and technology development from 2028 to 2034. The amount is nearly €80 billion higher than the current programme’s budget of €95.5 billion, although the final figure has not been determined.

Funding will target areas such as medicine, artificial intelligence, agriculture, energy, environmental protection, security and the space industry. The programme includes advanced technologies ranging from quantum computers and regenerative treatments to low-emission aviation and nuclear fusion. It will support cutting-edge research, innovation and the transformation of scientific results into products and services.

Romania could receive funding to modernise laboratories, purchase equipment, train researchers and develop international projects. Access will not be automatic, and Romanian institutions will have to submit competitive proposals. The National Authority for Research recommends beginning preparations in 2026.

The European Parliament is calling for a budget of €200 billion, while the Council of the EU is discussing a version of approximately €158.2 billion. The Parliament’s relevant committee is due to vote on the documents on 10 November 2026, with the plenary vote scheduled for the week of 23 November. If negotiations conclude in 2027, the new programme could begin on 1 January 2028.

Context: Before the proposal for Horizon Europe 2028–2034, the Commission had already supplemented funding under the current programme, and European budget negotiations were hit by contested cuts

Previously, the European Commission added €500 million to the Horizon Europe work programme for 2026–2027, bringing the total budget for the two years to approximately €14.8 billion and introducing new calls: one (€237 million) for the transition towards a “nature-positive” economy and another (€260 million) to prepare the link with the next post-2027 programme, including through projects related to advanced technologies and a European artificial intelligence platform for the media.

At the same time, for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie components within the same research architecture, the Commission supplemented funding for postdoctoral fellowships and doctoral networks by more than €210 million, thus estimating opportunities for more than 700 additional researchers and doctoral candidates, in a context where demand reached record levels (21,627 applications for the 2026 postdoctoral fellowship call).

Even before the Horizon Europe 2028–2034 file, the EU budget remained disputed: the Commission challenged the one-billion-euro cuts requested by the Council for 2027, including reductions to Horizon Europe and Erasmus+, while the Commission and Parliament called for resources to be maintained for programmes considered priorities.