With this recommendation, the European Commission recommends that the Council of the European Union authorises the opening of negotiations between the European Union and the Faroe Islands on an agreement covering the participation of the Faroe Islands to any Union programme and on associating the Faroe Islands to Horizon Europe – the Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for the period 2021-2027.

Formal relations between the EU and the Faroe Islands are currently based on separate bilateral agreements dealing with fisheries (1980), the trade in goods (1997), and Faroese participation in the Union framework programme for research and innovation (of 2010 and 2014, both agreements limited in duration to the duration of the respective Union FP). The Faroe Islands became formally associated to the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) in 2010, and a range of European projects attest to the active involvement of Faroese researchers and institutes in areas such as environment, oceanology, climate change, ecosystems and fisheries management. Faroese association to the Eight Framework Programme - Horizon 2020 - as of 2014 gave researchers, research institutes and enterprises in the Faroe Islands full access to Union funding and collaborative activities for research and innovation on an equal footing with entities from Member States and other third countries that are also associated to Horizon 2020. This participation has become very important for the research community of the Faroe Islands, and represents an important new and successful pillar of the Faroese-EU relations. With the agreements on the association to the Union FP being limited in time to the duration of each subsequent EU programme, there is currently no international agreement in place regulating participation of Faroese entities in Horizon Europe or fostering the scientific, research and innovation cooperation between the EU and Faroese research communities.

On 14 May 2020, by a Letter of Intent, the Faroe Islands has expressed its formal interest to associate to Horizon Europe. Paragraph (1)(d) of Article [16] of the Horizon Europe Regulation concerning the association of third countries to the programme provides that third countries and other territories participate in the programme on the basis of an agreement covering the participation of the third country to any Union programme. The Faroe Islands fulfils the criteria for association of third countries to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, as set forth by the Horizon Europe Regulation, notably, since it has a good capacity in science, technology and innovation; is committed to a rules-based open market economy, including fair and equitable dealing with intellectual property rights, respect of human rights, and backed by democratic institutions; and actively promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of their citizens.

In order to ensure the uninterrupted association of the Faroe Islands with the EU’s R&I Framework Programmes and to establish the general framework for its participation in any Union programme, it is recommended to authorise the opening of negotiations on an agreement with the following content:

The proposed agreement will set out the general conditions applicable for any eventual participation, to other the Union programmes, to be complemented with programme-specific terms and conditions, in the form of protocols to the agreement, which may be negotiated in the future should the two parties find it in their mutual interest.

Regarding the programme-specific terms and conditions providing for the association of the Faroe Islands to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, they should provide for association to all parts of the Programme, except for the specific programme on defence research established by [Regulation …/…/EU Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Defence Fund]. This will ensure the continuity of the previous full association to Horizon 2020, and its predecessor FP7 (the Faroe Islands have been fully associated to the Framework Programme in Research and Innovation since 2010). Whilst the structure and the dimension of the Faroese R&I system have resulted in a limited participation in Pillar I and III mono-beneficiary instruments (mainly SME instrument), a significant part of the EU contribution was going to collaborative actions under the previous Framework Programme. This participation has been assessed as beneficial to both parties, with a particular value-added in thematic areas such as environment, health and food, as well as ocean research. The Faroe Islands have been a net contributor to the last Framework Programmes by a significant margin. The proposed agreement will set out fair and balanced conditions concerning the financial contribution of the Faroe Islands. The agreement will also build on the Horizon 2020 experience and, as in the previous association agreement, include a reciprocity clause, ensuring that researchers and legal entities established in the Union have as far as possible access to participate to the Faroese research and innovation programmes that are equivalent to the Horizon Europe Framework Programme, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the domestic legislation of the Faroe Islands.

The procedural legal basis for the recommended decision is paragraph (3) and (4) of Article 218 TFEU.