Bern also gets green light to take part in Iter fusion project
The European Council has approved an agreement allowing Switzerland to join the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, taking a further step towards ending years of limbo for Swiss researchers.
Horizon Europe is the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme from 2021 to 2027, with a budget of more than €95bn ($110bn).
Within the same package, approved on 21 October, the council approved Switzerland joining a number of other EU science and technology schemes, including the Euratom nuclear programme and the €20bn ($23bn) International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (Iter) nuclear fusion reactor in France, whose members are China, the European Union, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the US.
The Euratom nuclear programme is a European Union initiative established by the Euratom treaty to coordinate nuclear research, improve safety and security, and promote the peaceful use of atomic energy. Its main goals include advancing nuclear safety and radiation protection, managing nuclear waste, and developing fusion energy.
“In the current complex and evolving geopolitical context, our relationship needs to be expanded and modernised to be better fit for the future,” said Marie Bjerre, minister for European affairs in the government of Denmark, the EU country holding the rotating presidency of the European Council until the end of the year.
“This is exactly what we achieved today with our decision on Switzerland’s association to EU research and innovation programmes as of the beginning of this year,” Bjerre said.
Under transitional measures, Swiss researchers have been allowed to apply for Horizon Europe funding since the beginning of the year after Brussels and Bern agreed to a wider package of deals last December.
The 21 October decision by the council is the latest step towards the part of that deal covering association to EU programmes being fully ratified by various EU and Swiss institutions.
Switzerland’s Federal Council approved the deal in April. The deal needs to be fully approved before Swiss applicants can receive any money from Horizon Europe.
In 2021, Bern pulled out of talks with the EU over an overarching deal on its relations, meaning that Switzerland has been outside of Horizon Europe, which started in 2021, until this year.
The deal with the EU could face a referendum from Swiss voters before 2028. If it returned a no vote, it could see Switzerland unable to join the successor programme to Horizon Europe, due to start in 2028.
In August the Swiss government presented draft legislation to end its ban on building new commercial nuclear power plants, reversing its existing policy, adopted after a 2017 referendum, to phase out the technology.
Switzerland has four commercial nuclear plants: Beznau-1, Beznau-2, Gösgen and Leibstadt. They produce about a 32% share of the country’s electricity production.
