Julien Warnand / EPA
European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen
Given the cuts of financing and attacks on the freedom of universities and researchers in the United States, the European Union is taking the opportunity to try to entice scientists who want to leave America.
The president of the European Commission announced today a strategy for the European Union (EU) attract foreign investigatorsallocating € 500 million by 2027 to reach a 3% GDP investment in this sector in the future.
“We want Europe to continue to be in Vanguard of the fundamental investigationwe want Europe to be a leader in priority technologies, [da inteligência artificial] Quantum, space, semiconductors and microelectronics to digital health, genomic and biotechnology. We want scientists, researchers, academics and highly qualified workers to choose Europe and that is why today I present the first elements of our initiative ‘Choose Europe’ [Escolham a Europa’]”, Disse Ursula von der Leyen.
Speaking at the European Conference for Science at the University of Sorbonne, Paris, and at a time when the If you want to become more competitive Faced with competitors such as the United States or China, the leader of the community executive pointed out that “the first priority is to ensure that science in Europe continues to be open and free.”
This after the administration of US President Donald Trump Submitted an ideological questionnaire To several Portuguese universities (with questions about gender, policies and others), which deserved the contestation of the Portuguese government.
Trump is also involved in a battle with several US universities to whom he is threatening to cut public funding, more notoriously, with Harvard.
“We must do everything we can to defend it, now more than ever. We want to reinforce the free circulation of knowledge And data throughout Europe – as we do with goods, talents and capital in our single market. And we want to consecrate the freedom of scientific research into the law in a new European research law, ”said Ursula Von Der Leyen.
Regarding financing, the president of the European Commission argued that “the right incentives” are made available, announcing a New 500 million package From euros to 2025-2027, “in order to make Europe a pole of attraction for researchers.”
Ursula von der Leyen also wants “higher subsidies and longer contracts ”to attract these highly qualified foreign workers, specialists in innovative technologies.
In the medium and long term the objective is, according to the institution’s leader, that the EU Member States allocate 3% of your gross domestic product (GDP) Investment in research and development by 2030.
“We will present ambitious proposals on the financing of research and innovation in the next long -term budget because we know that an investment in science is an investment in our future,” he concluded.
