“Choose Europe for science”
The European Union wants to invest 500 million Euros to attract researchers.
Roxana Vasile, 06.05.2025, 13:50
Paris hosted the conference “Choose Europe for Science” on Monday, backed by the presence of the French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The two want to attract foreign researchers, especially those from the US, who are threatened by the policies of the Trump administration, which has reduced funding for research programs, especially those related to climate change. The administration has also threatened to completely eliminate funding for some universities if they do not take action against student activism and do not stop programs aimed at diversity. The President of the European Commission announced that the European Union will propose a new package of 500 million Euros for the period 2025-2027, to make Europe a pole of attraction for European researchers, and also for foreign ones from around the world. “The role of science is being questioned today. Investments in basic, free and open research are being questioned. What a big miscalculation! Science is the key to our future here in Europe’ Ursula von der Leyen emphasized.
The conference, which brought together European commissioners, representatives of European universities and research ministers in the historic headquarters of the prestigious Sorbonne university campus in the heart of Paris, had been announced by President Emmanuel Macron in mid-April, at the same time with the launch of the “Choose France for Science” platform. According to the Elysée Palace, the aim of these projects is to show, at a time when academic freedoms are facing setbacks or threats, that Europe is a continent of attractiveness. ‘We must create the necessary conditions for an ambitious, demanding and supportive reception and research policy,’ said the French Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, Elisabeth Borne, in the opening of the “Choose Europe for Science” conference. The European Union hosts 25% of the world’s researchers and every Euro invested currently through the Horizon Europe framework program will generate 11 Euros in GDP gains by 2045 – said, in turn, the European Commissioner for Research, Ekaterina Zaharieva.
Given that, in France and Europe, salaries and amounts allocated to researchers and research are far below those in the United States, Ursula von der Leyen mentioned, on Monday, other measures for Europe to solve its shortcomings – a European innovation law or a strategy for start-ups aimed at reducing bureaucracy and stimulating access to capital. Let us also say that, currently, Romania has the smallest budget for research in the European Union – under 0.5% of the GDP. (LS)
