France, EU take aim at Trump’s assault on science, seek to lure US researchers

PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen took aim at Mr Donald Trump’s policies on science on May 5, as the European Union seeks to encourage disgruntled US researchers to relocate to Europe.

Ms Von der Leyen told a conference at Paris’ Sorbonne university that the EU would launch a new incentives package worth €500 million (S$731.7 million) to make the 27-nation bloc “a magnet for researchers”.

“We have to offer the right incentives,” she said.

Without mentioning Mr Trump directly, Ms von der Leyen told the “Choose Europe for Science” conference that the role of science was being put in question “in today’s world” and condemned such views as “a gigantic miscalculation”.

Universities and research facilities in the US have come under increasing political and financial pressure under Mr Trump, including

with threats of massive federal funding cuts

.

“Nobody could have imagined that this great global democracy, whose economic model depends so heavily on free science... was going to commit such an error,” Mr Macron said.

He added: “We refuse a diktat consisting of any government being able to say you cannot research this or that.”

‘A sanctuary’

In the context of “threats” against independent research and “global apprehension”, Mr Macron said, “Europe must become a sanctuary.”

In the US, research programmes face closure, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, and

foreign students fear possible deportation

for their political views.

European commissioners, scientists, academics and ministers for research from EU member countries took part in May 5’s conference, as did representatives from non-EU members Norway, Britain and Switzerland.

The French President has already appealed to foreign, notably US, researchers to “choose France”.

In April, he unveiled plans for a funding programme to help universities and other research bodies cover the cost of bringing foreign scientists to the country.

Aix Marseille University in the south of France announced in March it would open its doors to US scientists threatened by cuts.

It says its “Safe Place for Science” scheme has already received a flood of applicants.

Last week, France’s flagship scientific research centre, the CNRS, launched another initiative aimed at attracting foreign researchers whose work is threatened.

Bridging the pay gap

It is also seeking to tempt back French researchers working abroad, some of whom “don’t want to live and raise their children in Trump’s United States”, according to CNRS president Antoine Petit.

An official in Mr Macron’s office said May 5’s conference came “at a time when academic freedoms are retreating and under threat in a number of cases”.

One obstacle, experts say, is the fact that while EU countries can offer competitive research infrastructure and a

high quality of life

, research funding and researchers’ remuneration both lag far behind US levels.

But the CNRS’ Professor Petit said last week he hoped the pay gap would seem less significant once the lower cost of education and health, and more generous social benefits were taken into account.

Mr Macron’s office said France and the European Union are targeting researchers in a number of specific sectors, including health, climate, biodiversity, artificial intelligence and space.

Mr Macron said his government would earmark “an additional” €100 million to help attract foreign talent.

The French government could finance up to 50 per cent of selected research projects, an official in the presidential office said, while assistance could also be offered in the form of tax incentives. AFP