Following the call for evidence running from June to July 2026, to which ERRIN has submitted its input, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the future Single Basic Act for Joint Undertakings, which will stay open from 10 July to 16 October 2026.

Treaty-based European Partnerships (known also as institutionalised European Partnerships in the context of Horizon Europe (2021-2027)), i.e. Joint Undertakings (JUs) under Article 187 TFEU and Article 185 TFEU initiatives, are unique instruments in the EU R&I funding landscape that bring together different actors around shared strategic priorities. Industry, research-performing organisations, Member States, and the EU pool resources and efforts to foster research, development and the deployment of breakthrough technologies, and to push for system change using the output of successful EU R&I. By combining and jointly deploying public and private resources, European Partnerships enable the mobilisation of investments and expertise that go beyond what individual actors could achieve on their own.

This initiative is being prepared in the context of the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) and, in particular, the proposal for a Horizon Europe framework programme for research and innovation (2028-2034), as well as the proposal for a European Competitiveness Fund (ECF). The Horizon Europe proposal includes a provision to adopt a new Single Basic Act (SBA) to place the next generation of JUs set up under Article 187 TFEU on a solid, coherent legal basis, thereby ensuring legal certainty, aligned objectives, harmonised procedures and cross-sector synergies. The initiative builds on lessons from the current MFF and on the existing SBA (Council Regulation (EU) 2021/2085), which set up a coherent legal framework that applied to most JUs for the first time (with the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) remaining on a separate legal track). The policy established for the next MFF (Article 11(4) of the 2028-2034 Horizon Europe proposal) is to move to one comprehensive SBA covering all JUs and to introduce harmonised rules, as far as possible, thereby streamlining governance, avoiding fragmentation across policy areas and maintaining the flexibility to accommodate sector-specific needs.

Find all the information and submit your answer to the consultation here.

The Commission adoption is planned for the fourth quarter of 2026.