The recommendations for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics—discussed at the ESG closed meeting at the Monte Verità in Ascona, December 1-5, 2025—were just handed to CERN during the 225th meeting of its council. These recommendations outline Europe’s long-term vision for particle physics and will be formally reviewed, with a final decision expected in May 2026.
The key recommendations are very straightforward: The proposed next flag ship at CERN is the FCC-ee and as the primary fallback, if not adopted, a descoped version of the FCC-ee is put forward. With this document recent discussions about the alternative projects if the FCC-ee proves infeasible or noncompetitive in its proposed form, have been put to rest. Long live the FCC-ee.
The recommendations point out the following key impacts for the proposed Next Flagship Project at CERN:
- Enable a cutting-edge physics program, particularly precision Higgs boson studies.
- Address fundamental open questions of the Standard Model.
- Create opportunities for discovering new physics.
- Drive technological innovation with societal impact.