Challenges and Opportunities: Preparing the EU for Future Enlargement Programme 2025

Scope

• As stressed in several Commission’s communications and following the granting of the candidate country status to Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, there is a need to invest more in understanding enlargement priorities, opportunities, and challenges based on the perspective of an EU counting more than 30 Member States. This also means that EU Member States need to be better prepared, while citizens and civil society must gain a better understanding of what enlargement entails.
• The proposed research should improve on the one hand, the EU Member States’ understanding of the history, political and economic situation of the candidate countries and potential candidates, through socio-historical research, combined with a legal and economic approach (including expertise from relevant SSH disciplines). And, on the other hand, it should support EU citizens and civil society to gain a better understanding on challenges and opportunities related to potential future enlargements of the EU.
• Reflecting on previous enlargements, the proposals should provide thematic insights on lessons learned and identify potential similarities with the candidate countries, focusing particularly on democracy, rule of law and governance-related topics.
• Adopting a flexible and adaptive approach to enlargement, responsive to geopolitical dynamics and regional challenges, might be necessary. Utilizing foresight and scenario planning can help the EU and the Member States to anticipate future changes and strategically manage the enlargement process. This approach can also consider differentiation within EU governance to build resilient, inclusive, and participatory societies.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grant).

Eligible Activities

• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA): Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA): Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA): Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’).
  • Programme co-fund actions (CoFund): A programme of activities established or implemented by legal entities managing or funding R&I programmes, other than EU funding bodies.

Expected Outcomes

• Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
  • Policymakers and public administrations in each Member State, candidate country, potential candidate country, and at EU institutional level, are provided with thematic insights on lessons learned from previous enlargement processes for the development of future policies with particular attention to democracy, rule of law and governance related topics.
  • Societal awareness of the enlargement process is increased both within the Union and in the candidate country(ies), or potential candidate country(ies), through a deeper understanding of the political, social and economic consequences of enlargement versus non-enlargement of the EU.
  • EU authorities and public authorities in Member States benefit from better use of existing interactive tools to better inform and promote educational opportunities on enlargement process for citizens in the Union and in the enlargement countries.
  • Public’s at large involvement in enlargement is enhanced through transparent and participatory processes, leveraging digital tools for broader engagement.

Eligibility Criteria

• Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call/topic.
• A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
• Specific cases: 
  • Affiliated entities: Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
  • Associated partners: Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any specific call/topic conditions. Entities without legal personality
  • Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
  • EU bodies: Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
• To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
  • the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
  • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
    • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
  • countries associated to Horizon Europe:
    • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

For more information, visit EC.