The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project for a large aperture (3-5 meters) ground-based telescope, to be located in the Canary Islands. EST will be optimized for studies of magnetic coupling between the deep photosphere and upper chromosphere. This will require diagnostics of the thermal, dynamic and magnetic properties of the plasma over many scale heights, by using multiple wavelength imaging, spectroscopy and spectropolarimetry. The design of EST will strongly emphasize the use of a large number of visible and near-infrared instruments simultaneously. To achieve these goals, EST will specialize in high spatial and temporal resolution using instruments that can efficiently produce twodimensional spectral information. In this communication, the present situation of the design is outlined, as well as the expected future phases and scheduling.