The proposed European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) marks a material shift in the design and governance of EU industrial policy. By consolidating fragmented funding instruments, concentrating resources in strategic policy windows, strengthening annual work programmes, and integrating grants and financial instruments under a single framework, the ECF could become the anchor of a more coherent European industrial strategy.
As negotiations on the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework enter a decisive phase, however, the ECF faces mounting political pressure. Fault lines are emerging over the fund’s overall scale, the balance between merit-based allocation and geographic distribution, the depth of strategic prioritisation, and the scope of European preference provisions. At the same time, critical provisions still require sharper delineation if the fund is to function as intended.
This Policy Brief assesses the Commission’s proposal and identifies what must be preserved – and refined – to ensure that the ECF becomes a genuinely transformative instrument rather than a rebranded consolidation of existing programmes.
The paper advances seven principles to guide the negotiations:
- Protect scale: Resist cuts to the ECF and ensure that any reductions remain proportionate within the overall MFF.
- Hold the merit line: Preserve performance-based allocation and avoid importing distributive logic into the ECF.
- Maintain strategic focus: Concentrate support on a limited number of strategically selected technologies and translate broad policy windows into clearly defined priorities at work programme level.
- Anchor value in Europe: Apply European preference tools selectively and strategically to reduce critical dependencies.
- Clarify the Horizon–ECF interface: Maintain a clear boundary between frontier research and industrial deployment, connected through structured transition points.
- Reconcile flexibility with control: Strengthen democratic oversight while preserving the agility built into annual work programmes.
- Use the right tool for the job: Ensure real coordination between grants and financial instruments and avoid leverage-by-default.
