Horizon 2020: Official announcement of the EU and new recommendations for Swiss researchers

Today the EU published an official statement regarding the developments following the Swiss referendum on 9th February. The most important parts of the text are about Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

Regarding Horizon2020 and Erasmus+ the statements says: “Following this constitutional change, the Swiss Federal Council has informed us that it is still evaluating whether it is in a position to sign the – already negotiated and initialled - Protocol extending the free movement of persons agreement to Croatia.

The Commission has been crystal-clear that we expect this extension as planned, and that we cannot accept different treatments between our Member States in this crucial field. The Swiss government indicated to us that they will have concluded their internal reflections on the Protocol by early April. We need to know this fast.

Precisely to avoid such discrimination, the Council's negotiating directives for Swiss association and participation in Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ clearly link these related agreements to the "Croatia Protocol". Negotiations of these agreements will therefore not go ahead until Switzerland formally concludes the Protocol, black on white.

In the absence of an international agreement on determining the conditions for Switzerland's association to Horizon 2020, Switzerland does not participate in this programme as an associated country. This means that for 2014 calls for proposals participation of Swiss entities will be in accordance with Horizon 2020 provisions governing participation of third country entities.

As for Erasmus+, Switzerland has now missed the time for the 2014 grant award decisions. This means that in 2014, Switzerland will not participate in Erasmus+ on equal footing with Member States as initially envisaged and its participation will be limited to cooperation activities as with any other third country.”

In response to the statement the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI published new recommendations for researchers. The third country status of Switzerland has consequences for several programmes. The most important:

• Potential Swiss project partners have to make sure that proposals for Horizon 2020 projects respectsthe required minimum number of consortium partners from three institutions from three different EU member states or associated states (not including Switzerland).
• It appears that under current regulations projects may be coordinated by third country participants; Swiss project partners may therefore continue to play a coordinating role.

The complete papers with recommendations can be downloaded below (in German and French).