2 April 2025 – Chief negotiators of Switzerland and the European Union initialled an agreement in Brussels on Switzerland’s participation in EU programmes, namely Horizon Europe, Euratom, ITER, Digital Europe, Erasmus+ and EU4Health. The EU Programmes Agreement (EUPA) comes into force once the overall Switzerland-EU package has been ratified, but could be provisionally applied after signing, which is due to take place in November.

Since the start of this year, researchers and innovators in Switzerland have been able to access nearly all calls for proposals related to Horizon Europe, the Euratom programme, and the Digital Europe Programme as part of transitional measures. However, to receive their portion of the project funding from the European Commission, a retroactive association starting from January 1, 2025, is required. After the EUPA is signed, Switzerland will transfer the necessary contribution for participation in the 2025 programme year to the EU.

For more information, see here.