The European Commission will ¡°start immediately¡± on?ratifying the UK¡¯s association to?Horizon Europe once the agreement on?Northern Ireland trade rules is?finalised, its?president Ursula von der Leyen has said.

Unveiling a new European-UK agreement at a joint press conference with prime minister Rishi Sunak, Ms?von der?Leyen said the expected deal would allow talks to?resume about when Britain could join Europe¡¯s flagship €80?billion (?70.6?billion) research scheme.

The commission had blocked the UK from finalising a deal on Horizon Europe association until agreement was reached on the wider dispute over Northern Ireland ¨C seen as Brussels using the research programme as a political bargaining chip ¨C which has been resolved three years after the initial Brexit deal, and just over two years after Horizon Europe membership was agreed.

¡°This Windsor framework is good news for scientists and researchers ¨C in the European Union and in the UK ¨C because the moment we have finished this agreement¡­the moment it is implemented, I?am happy to start immediately, right now, the work of association agreement, which is the precondition for joining Horizon Europe,¡± explained Ms?von der?Leyen on 27?February.

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¡°So good news for all those who are working in research and science,¡± she added.

The seven-year Horizon Europe programme started in February 2021, so the UK would be joining part way through ¨C a complicating factor when it comes to agreeing the UK¡¯s financial contributions, which will come to more than ?1?billion a?year. The Westminster government has been covering the costs of participation for UK researchers via a?guarantee scheme.

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Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society, said the UK needed to ¡°swiftly secure access to the EU¡¯s international research programmes¡± now that the impasse over Northern Ireland had been resolved.

¡°It is more than two years since the government agreed association to Horizon Europe, Euratom and Copernicus ¨C two years of delays that have damaged science across Europe. These schemes support outstanding international collaboration, and the sooner we join them, the better for everyone,¡± said Sir Adrian, who also welcomed unconfirmed reports that, following the recent return to the Treasury of a ?1.6?billion underspend that was intended for association to Horizon Europe, ¡°the money will be spent in subsequent financial years¡±.

The news over Horizon Europe was also welcomed by Dame Anne Johnson, president of the UK¡¯s Academy of Medical Sciences, who said her organisation, together with the wider scientific community, ¡°has repeatedly highlighted that full UK participation in Horizon Europe is the best possible outcome for research and for the health of people everywhere¡±.

¡°Achieving this would the single biggest step we can take right now to deliver on the UK¡¯s ambitions to be a world leader in science,¡± said Dame Anne.

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Meanwhile, Sir John Hardy, chair of the molecular biology of neurological disease at UCL, said it would be ¡°great news for UK science¡± if the country could join Horizon Europe, although its years in the wilderness will have already caused some damage.

¡°Dropping out of these collaborative schemes did harm to our standing, and some of that harm will be irreversible: grants will have been written without us, and we will now have to try and rejoin these networks, some of which we once led, as supplicants,¡± said Professor Hardy.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com