Explainer: Can Switzerland rejoin Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ in 2024?

Currently, Swiss researchers cannot coordinate Horizon Europe projects and do not have access to prestigious European Research Council grants. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally

News that the European Commission is to open exploratory talks with Switzerland on Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ has been welcomed by university leaders. But the timing and final details of any future science and education deal remain unclear.

What’s the latest news on Horizon Europe and Erasmus+?

The European Commission has invited Switzerland to exploratory talks on Switzerland’s association with European Union programmes in the areas of education, research and innovation (Horizon Europe, Euratom, Digital Europe Programme, ITER and Erasmus+), with hopes this could lead to an agreement as early as next year. Switzerland was excluded from Horizon Europe and other EU initiatives in 2021 after it declared negotiations on its future relationship with the EU to have failed.

The European commissioner for research and innovation, Iliana Ivanova, tweetedExternal link on November 22 that she was “happy to confirm” that discussions with Switzerland could begin. This followed a tweet by European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič, who said a common understanding had been reached between the EU and Switzerland on the negotiation of a broad package of issues following 18 months of discussions. “This is a welcome and important step in our bilateral relationship,” he saidExternal link.

The European Commission’s statements indicate education, research and innovation talks will progress in parallel to the future wider Swiss-EU negotiations. They follow a declaration on November 8 by the Swiss government that it would decide its overall negotiating position by the end of the year for the next stage of talks to regulate its long-term relationship with the EU.

How have Swiss universities reacted?

The ETH Board, which oversees Switzerland’s prestigious federal institutes of technology, saidExternal link it “warmly welcomes this positive development”, calling for “Switzerland’s full association to Horizon Europe as soon as possible”.

“Switzerland’s association to Horizon Europe must be kept separate from the other negotiations between Switzerland and the EU,” it added.

Laure Ognois, head of international cooperation at the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), echoed this: “The SNSF has welcomed the European Commission’s announcement to open exploratory talks with Switzerland on the Horizon and Erasmus+ packages and hopes that this will lead to an agreement as soon as possible. Full association with Horizon Europe remains crucial for the Swiss scientific community.”

Yves Flückiger, rector of the University of Geneva, told SWI swissinfo.ch he welcomed the progress but cautioned: “The European Commission has, in a sign of openness, stated that it is ready to engage in discussions with Switzerland on its future access to its research and innovation programmes. But it has also clearly stated that the formal negotiations would only begin once the global negotiating mandates have been adopted by both parties.”

Will a Horizon Europe association deal be signed in 2024?

“The first exploratory talks [on Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, etc.] are expected to take place in Brussels at the end of November [2023],” Tiziana Fantini, spokesperson at the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, confirmed to SWI swissinfo.ch.

Luciana Vaccaro, president of the umbrella body swissuniversities, told the sciencebusiness website that current progress “gives a hope for a signature [on an association deal] in 2024”.

The Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) stresses that association negotiations will require negotiating mandates on both sides (Switzerland and the EU).

It says Switzerland has already adopted this for the Horizon package at the end of 2020 and for Erasmus+ at the beginning of 2021. As soon as the most important parameters have been clarified with Brussels, “the decision-making process for funding can be launched in parallel at national level”, SERI says. Meanwhile, the EU (European Council) has not yet adopted a negotiating mandate for the association talks for the Horizon package and Erasmus+.

“If enough progress is made at the political level, we can at best hope that the European competitions for research and innovation grants as well as the lead of projects will once again be open to the Swiss in 2024,” Flückiger said. “Should there be a transition period, our authorities will have to ensure that all the financial guarantees are maintained until Switzerland is fully associated.”

The timing will be tight. Swiss parliamentary commissions can only begin work in January 2024, followed by debate in parliament. Brussels, meanwhile, hopes to conclude negotiations ahead of elections in June when a new Commission will be appointed. 

Why was Switzerland excluded from Horizon Europe?

In May 2021, after seven years of negotiations, Switzerland pulled out of talks with the EU to renew dozens of bilateral agreements on issues like migration and trade. As a result, the European Commission decided to downgrade Switzerland to a non-associated third country in the EU’s €95 billion (CHF91.5 billion) Horizon Europe research funding programme shortly afterwards.

Swiss researchers cannot coordinate Horizon Europe projects and do not have access to prestigious European Research Council grants. Also, Swiss small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups are excluded from EU innovation programmes.

What about Erasmus+?

Switzerland has been excluded from the EU’s Erasmus+ (education, training, youth and sport in Europe) programme since 2014. There had been hopes it would re-join for 2021-2027. But this stalled after Switzerland broke off talks in 2021.

In 2022 the EU allowed Swiss universities to join the EU’s other big flagship scheme, European Universities initiativeExternal link (which is actually part of Erasmus+), as associated partners. As an associated member, Switzerland is not eligible for EU funds. Instead, Swiss universities must apply to the Swiss national agency MovetiaExternal link for grants to cover their part. They are also not allowed to coordinate and lead any Erasmus+ projects.

Movetia’s director, Olivier Tschopp, welcomed the recent European Commission announcement.

“It seems that Horizon and research is the priority, but we hope that association with Erasmus+ will not lag too far behind,” he told SWI swissinfo.ch.

If this cannot be settled in parallel “for political reasons”, Tschopp said he hoped Erasmus+ association could follow immediately afterwards. “We are ready for accreditation as an Erasmus+ agency,” he added.

The Union of Swiss Students and the European Students’ Union meanwhile urge Swiss-EU officials and parliamentarians to pursue “serious talks” towards early accession to Erasmus+. They are worried that Erasmus+ may lag.

“We know that the reassociation in Erasmus+ is part of the ‘common understanding’. Our only expectation is that it should be treated with the same priority as Horizon,” Gazmendi Noli, co-president of the Swiss University Union, told SWI swissinfo.ch.

He says it is crucial that Swiss politicians are made fully aware of the benefits of the Erasmus+ scheme and set aside the necessary funds.

“And we expect the EU to no longer punish the students and to really motivate Switzerland to go back to Erasmus+ because I think it’s in the interest of both parties that the next generation can get to meet each other,” he added.