UK participation in EU science schemes, including the €95.5-billion Horizon Europe, is now subject to a formal dispute triggered by the UK deepening concerns among researchers and universities that the U.K. is poised to pull out altogether.
The European Commission has chosen to link Britain’s previously-agreed involvement in Horizon Europe projects with the ongoing row over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland. In an increasingly bitter tit-for-tat dispute, neither side looks likely to back down.
The two sides will hold crisis talks in Brussels within the next 30 days, but the prospect of a quick resolution is slim. The next stage of arbitration would require the appointment of an independent panel, which would then be given more than three months to reach a decision.