On 2 April, the chief negotiators from Switzerland and the European Union initialled an agreement in Brussels on Switzerland’s participation in EU programmes. The agreement comes into force once the overall Switzerland-EU package has been ratified, but could already be applied provisionally after the signing, which is due to take place in November. On 9 April the Federal Council approved the agreement. - Updated.
The EU Programmes Agreement (EUPA) governs Switzerland's participation in EU programmes, namely Horizon Europe, Euratom, ITER, Digital Europe, Erasmus+ and EU4Health. The EUPA was initialled in Brussels on 2 April by the two chief negotiators for the overall Switzerland-EU package, Patric Franzen and Richard Szostak, as well as by the two lead negotiators for the EUPA, Michael Gerber from the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation and Signe Ratso from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation.
Provisional access to Horizon Europe and other programmes
The EUPA will only come into force once the overall Switzerland-EU package has been ratified. However, it can be applied in advance, which would afford Switzerland provisional association to Horizon Europe, the Euratom programme and the Digital Europe Programme with retroactive effect from 2025, as well as to ITER from 2026 and Erasmus+ from 2027. For that to happen the EUPA must be signed by this November, i.e. before the signing of the remaining elements of the Switzerland-EU package. The EUPA nevertheless remains part of the overall package in terms of ratification proceedings. Participation in the EU4Health programme is planned when the Health Agreement comes into force as part of the package.
Researchers and innovators in Switzerland have had access to almost all calls for proposals relating to Horizon Europe, the Euratom programme and the Digital Europe Programme since the beginning of this year as part of the transitional arrangements. However, in order for them to receive their share of the project costs from the European Commission, a retroactive association as of 1 January 2025 is necessary. Once the EUPA has been signed, Switzerland will transfer the mandatory contribution for participation in the 2025 programme year to the EU.
Steps to ratification
Initialling is defined as the approval of a contractual text by appending initials. The negotiators thereby confirm that the text corresponds to the results of the negotiations. After initialling, the two parties sign the agreement, which is done by the Federal Council on the Swiss side, followed by ratification, which involves Parliament and a possible referendum. The text of the EUPA will be published in the coming weeks.
At its meeting on 9 April 2025, the Federal Council approved the EU Programmes Agreement (EUPA) along with the associated protocols on education, research, innovation and health. It also authorised Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin to sign the agreement. Signature of the EUPA will enable Swiss association in Horizon Europe, the Euratom programme and the Digital Europe Programme to be applied retroactively from 1 January 2025.
More information about the provisional agreement for 2025 can be found in our descriptions of Horizon Europe and the EIC Accelerator in our grants & loans directory.
(Press release / SK)
Picture: Fotolia / Vasyl
0Comments
The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
Please login or sign up to comment.
Commenting guidelines