Council authorises EU-Japan agreement opening Horizon Europe research funding to Japan

The Council of the European Union has authorised the signing and provisional application of the agreement that associates Japan to Union programmes, opening Pillar II of Horizon Europe to Japanese research entities. The authorisation is set out in Council Decision (EU) 2026/2065 of 14 July 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union of 17 September 2026. The full text of the agreement and of its Protocol on the association of Japan to Horizon Europe appears in the same edition as OJ L, 2026/2066.

Japan formally expressed its interest in associating to Horizon Europe by letter dated 1 April 2022. On 15 May 2023 the Council adopted Decision (EU) 2023/1081 authorising the opening of negotiations, which were completed with the initialling of the agreement on 22 December 2025. The decision rests on Articles 186 and 212 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in conjunction with Article 218(5), and was signed in Brussels on 14 July 2026 by the President of the Council, T. Byrne.

The agreement establishes a lasting framework for cooperation and the terms of Japanese participation in the Union programmes open to it. Its Protocol, negotiated in parallel and an integral part of the agreement under Article 17(9), governs the association to Horizon Europe – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027), established by Regulation (EU) 2021/695 and implemented through the Specific Programme set up by Council Decision (EU) 2021/764.

What Japan joins

Japan participates as an associated country in Pillar II, ‘Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness’. Japanese entities obtain eligibility equivalent to entities of the Member States for the submission, assessment and selection of applications, and may take part in the legal structures created under Articles 185 and 187 of the Treaty. Reciprocity is built in: entities established in the Union may join equivalent Japanese programmes, listed non-exhaustively in Annex II:

• Core Research for Evolutionary Science and Technology (CREST), managed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST)
• Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), also managed by JST

The Government of Japan may designate National Contact Points to advise applicants, and its representatives may attend as observers, without voting rights, the committee referred to in Article 14 of Decision (EU) 2021/764 for points concerning Japan. A Japanese representative may also be invited as an observer to meetings of the Joint Research Centre Board of Governors.

The money

The financial contribution is fixed for the first two years. The operational contribution for 2026 and 2027 is set at EUR 13 700 000, including 1 % for the contingency reserve; the 2026 instalment is EUR 6 873 493, of which EUR 68 734,93 corresponds to that reserve. The participation fee is 3 % in 2026 and 4 % in 2027, against a standard 4 % of the annual operational contribution.

An automatic correction mechanism applies to the operational contribution, based on the performance of Japan and Japanese entities in the parts of Pillar II implemented through competitive grants; the retrospective adjustment mechanism does not apply. If funding awarded to Japanese entities exceeds 80 % of the operational contribution paid in a year, Japan may request suspension of the Protocol for the following financial year.

Governance and safeguards

A Joint Committee of Union and Japanese representatives is established, deciding by consensus and meeting at least once a year; it may adopt or amend Protocols. The agreement also provides for reviews and audits by the European Commission and the European Court of Auditors, for action by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) on Japanese territory, for cooperation with the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), and for the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union over pecuniary obligations imposed on Japanese entities.

The agreement applies from 1 January 2026 and is to be applied provisionally pending completion of the procedures for its entry into force; the date of provisional application is to be published in the Official Journal. It is drawn up in the 24 official languages and in Japanese, with the English text prevailing in case of divergence.

For European research consortia the decision means a new pool of Japanese partners and co-funding in the programme’s global-challenge clusters, while Japanese universities and companies gain access to Horizon Europe grants on the same footing as Member State entities. The two joint declarations published with the agreement — on Article 11 and on the amounts for 2027 — signal that the arrangement is treated as exceptional, tied to Japan’s budget cycle, and not a template for future third-country associations.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 17 September 2026, Legislation (official reference: Council Decision (EU) 2026/2065).