Horizon Europe 2028-2034: Keep Agriculture and Bioeconomy as Europe’s R&I Priorities
Recognition of the ITRE’s Report
The discussions around the ITRE draft Report on HE 2028-20341 represent a pivotal moment for Europe’s research and innovation landscape. We, the undersigned organizations, welcome the ITRE draft Report on HE 2028-2034 from rapporteur, Mr. Christian Ehler, as a starting point for further work. We stand ready to engage with the rapporteur and the shadow rapporteurs to strengthening Europe's research and innovation while ensuring that agriculture and bioeconomy have the right place in this key proposal.
Maintaining Agriculture and Bioeconomy Visibility in the EU Framework Programme
Our organizations would like to draw the attention to Amendments 48 and 51, which propose renaming the relevant policy window by removing explicit references to agriculture and bioeconomy and replacing them with the broader term sustainable prosperity.
As organisations dedicated to advancing Europe’s bioeconomy and agricultural sectors, we underscore the need to retain the original Part II policy window title as proposed by the European Commission (Art. 4-b-i-2). Preserving this terminology is essential for ensuring continuity, maintaining sectoral visibility, and safeguarding strategic coherence across the programme. While the proposed renaming may appear technical or editorial, it carries meaningful practical and political implications that warrant close attention. Words in a framework programme are not neutral: they shape the policy space, anchor political recognition, and signal strategic priorities.
Why the Original Policy Window Name Should Be Preserved?
a) The strategic importance of agriculture and bioeconomy: the explicit naming of agriculture and bioeconomy in the policy windows is not merely symbolic. It sends a clear signal to researchers, investors, and industry that Europe is committed to these sectors as pillars of its sustainable growth strategy. Agriculture stands as a stabilising force, contributing to food security, economic resilience, sustainability, and growth across the Union, and bioeconomy alone represents a multi-trillion-euro opportunity2 for Europe's green transition, rural development, and food security. Removing this visibility risks deprioritising these sectors in practice, regardless of intent.
b) Risk of procedural delay: reopening the question of policy window nomenclature at this stage of the legislative process risks triggering a broader debate on the overall architecture of the programme's thematic priorities. This would introduce unnecessary complexity and could delay the timely adoption of the framework, an outcome that serves neither the Parliament nor the research and innovation community, which relies on regulatory clarity.
Our Ask
We respectfully urge you to oppose amendments 48 and 51 and to support retaining the original policy window designations as put forward in the Commission proposal (COM 2025/0543). We believe this is the most constructive path forward, one that preserves momentum, maintains sectoral visibility, and reflects the strategic ambitions Europe has set for agriculture and the bioeconomy. As a broad coalition representing diverse actors across Europe’s agriculture and bioeconomy ecosystem, we remain available for further discussion and stand ready to provide any technical or policy input that may be helpful to your deliberations.