Negotiations for the accession of non-EU countries to the Horizon Europe research and innovation program are unlikely to take off before next year.
They can only be started after an agreement is reached for the European legislation of HorizonEU, which proposes a budget of € 94.1 billion. Some analysts suggest that the agreement, at best, will be approved in the first half of 2020, but there is the possibility that it will arrive at the end of the year.
Currently, at least 24 countries, from Switzerland to Canada, are considering participating in Horizon Europe, but first they want to check the terms of membership. If these are not explained shortly, the risk is that researchers will not be ready when the program starts in January 2021.
A final reason for the delay is Brexit. After the release of the United Kingdom, the latter is also expected to want to join HorizonEU as a non-EU country. Furthermore, European leaders cannot finalize the regulation of the new research and innovation program until they know with certainty the amount of the budget, which depends on the presence of the United Kingdom in Europe.