The European Commission and the United Kingdom have today reached a political agreement on the UK's participation in Horizon Europe, the EU's research and innovation programme, and Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation programme. Starting January 1st 2024, researchers and organizations in the UK will be able to participate in Horizon Europe and Copernicus, which the UK has not had access to since the UK left the EU in January 2020.

This is a notable development, which took years of negotiations and multiple obstacles, with the EU-UK dispute over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland serving as a major roadblock. However, discussions gained momentum in March 2023 following the Windsor Framework deal between London and Brussels, once again reigniting the prospects of UK participation. This agreement allowed for both sides to finally hash out the final terms of the deal and the total cost for the UK. In total, it is estimated that the UK will contribute almost €2.6 billion per year on average for its participation in both Horizon Europe and the Copernicus component of the Space programme. However, these costs will only come into effect on January 1st, 2024 when the UK will rejoin the program. Which means that the UK will not have to pay any financial contributions for the time it was not associated with the programmes. 

This new deal is mutually beneficial for both sides, by rejoining Horizon Europe and Copernicus the UK researchers and organizations will gain access to the EU funding which has a budget of €95.5 billion,  while the EU will gain additional funding from the UK to fund these programs. This additional funding in turn will improve research in climate, energy, mobility, digital, industry, space and health for both the EU and UK. Additionally, the UK’s joining of Copernicus will enable the UK to access the EU’s space programme, which will allow for better state-of-the art capacity to monitor the Earth and the environment.