How the European funding cycle 2028-2034 is shaping up
The largest budget in EU history: nearly €2 trillion. What's changing and why it matters for LAC organisations looking at Europe.
On 16 July 2025 the European Commission presented its proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF 2028-2034). It is the largest budget in EU history: nearly 2 trillion euros at current prices, equivalent to 1.26% of the bloc’s average Gross National Income for those seven years. For any LAC organisation looking at Europe as a funding source, this is the document that defines the next decade.
What changes in the architecture
The new MFF reorganises 21 existing programmes and reduces complexity. Two large new envelopes appear: the National and Regional Partnership Plans, which consolidate agricultural policy, cohesion, fisheries and migration under unified plans per Member State, and the European Competitiveness Fund, which integrates research, industry, defence and clean transition under a single structure.
For LAC, the relevant action is in three specific lines that retain autonomy: Horizon Europe (FP10), Erasmus+, and Global Europe.
Horizon Europe (FP10): nearly doubles
The proposal allocates approximately 175 billion euros to Horizon Europe for the period, an increase of about 63% over the 2021-2027 cycle. The structure shifts to four pillars:
- Pillar I — Excellent Science (~44.1 billion): ERC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie, JRC.
- Pillar II — Competitiveness and Society: includes Clean Transition and Industrial Decarbonisation (~25.3 billion), Health, Biotech, Agriculture and Bioeconomy (~19.6 billion), Digital Leadership (~16.8 billion), Resilience, Security, Defence and Space (~6.4 billion), and a Society window (~7.6 billion) for bottom-up research on global societal challenges.
- Pillar III — Innovation: continues EIC and EITs.
- Pillar IV — European Research Area (~16.3 billion): Widening, infrastructures, ERA policy.
Key fact for LAC: the proposal explicitly maintains third-country association and reinforces the international dimension. Specific allocation figures will only become clear when individual work programmes advance.
Erasmus+ 2028-2034: 36.2 billion, merged with the European Solidarity Corps
Erasmus+ merges with the European Solidarity Corps into a unified programme, with a budget of 36.2 billion euros at 2025 prices, representing a combined increase of approximately 30% over the current cycle. The new architecture adopts two pillars:
- Pillar 1 — Learning Opportunities for All: learning mobility, volunteering, DiscoverEU, scholarships in strategic sectors (green tech, AI, health).
- Pillar 2 — Capacity Building Support: cooperation between organisations, partnerships for excellence, and capacity building with third countries.
Capacity Building in Higher Education remains the historical access line for LAC, with an annual budget around 113 million euros in the current cycle and expected continuity.
What this means for LAC
Three strategic readings.
First: the money is there, but the funnel is simplifying. Fewer programmes, more standardised templates, greater use of lump sums. Those with institutional capacity to apply now will find more predictable processes. Those who lack it will find a higher barrier: you can no longer “learn by applying” as much as before, because calls close faster.
Second: the international dimension is preserved but reorganised. Global Europe remains the external cooperation instrument and provides a complementary contribution to Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe for international action. The exact amount is not yet published, but the logic of third-country partnership is preserved.
Third: the first calls under the new MFF will open between late 2027 and early 2028. That feels distant. It isn’t. Building competitive consortia takes 12 to 18 months. To apply in the first cycle, you have to be mapping European partners now, not in 2028.
Next milestones
The proposal has entered the negotiation phase with the European Parliament and Member States. A final agreement is expected by the end of 2027. Until then, the figures may move, particularly under pressure from the European University Association and other networks calling for Erasmus+ to be raised to 60 billion.
At 2811 we are tracking the process from Berlin and Brussels, translating each update into actionable reading for LAC organisations that want to position themselves before the first call opens.
Sources: European Commission (July 2025), EU Budget 2028-2034 proposal · European Parliament, EPRS Briefing PE 775.885 · UKRO, Horizon Europe FP10 analysis · KoWi, EU Commission proposals for next MFF and Horizon Europe · ETUI (September 2025), The Commission’s 2028-2034 MFF proposal.