France, together with the European Commission, is determined to facilitate the relocation to the Old World of scientists living in the United States who are unhappy with both politics and President Donald Trump’s decision to cut funding in a number of areas. However, this is unlikely to apply to scientists engaged in basic research. And it is not yet fully clear exactly how the move to Europe will be stimulated.
President of the Fifth Republic Emmanuel Macron intends to take advantage of the White House’s decision to cut funding to universities. He co-hosted the “Choose Europe for Science” conference with Ursula von der Leyen, Head of the European Commission.
Its main goal is to encourage American scientists to move to Europe. The motive is indicated as ideological. The Elysee Palace stresses that academic freedoms are under threat, and Europe can offer a broad perspective on solving humanity’s problems.
“A few years ago, no one would have thought that one of the largest democratic countries in the world would cancel research programs on the pretext that the name of the program contains the word ‘diversity,'” the French president said. He added that the fate of scientific research should not be the subject of attacks by the “dictate of a minority.”
In a sense, this message is more confusing than encouraging: scientists are invited to move across the ocean, and the argument is primarily based on the ideological unity of European values and the values of the intelligentsia.
However, the choice towards Europe may indeed become relevant for some scientists. The fact is that a number of areas of scientific activity have been deemed unnecessary by the White House. And scientists are faced with a question not only about whether they live among like-minded people or not. We are talking about pressing financial issues.
Von der Leyen, standing next to Macron, promised to allocate 500 million euros to attract the American intelligentsia. “We want scientists, researchers, academics and highly skilled workers to choose Europe,” she said at the Sorbonne.
The media notes that the Fifth Republic shows a special interest in attracting scientists involved in research on infectious diseases, artificial intelligence and climate change issues. Paris is ready to allocate 100 million euros for this purpose.
“The process of relocation of laboratories and schools has already been launched. However, for linguistic reasons and because of the established connections, they move primarily to Canada and Britain. Whether France or the EU as a whole will be able to join the process remains a question,” says Alexander Tevdoy–Burmuli, associate professor of the MGIMO Department of Integration Processes.
The expert explained in a conversation with NG that the European Union has limited resources to influence science. Firstly, the EU has problems with finances. Secondly, educational institutions are mostly either private or national, rather than pan-European.
“Grants can be allocated, and Brussels certainly has experience in attracting scientists and students. But the scale of the potential relocation from the United States and the EU’s ability to invest large resources in this are not yet fully clear. It may be more about several scientific areas of interest to Europeans, but not about the relocation of scientists as a whole,” he said.
At the same time, Tevdoy-Burmuli noted that it is important for the United States that scientists do not decide to move directly to a geopolitical opponent – China. In this sense, the White House may need to be careful.
“One of the similar examples is the real “bounty hunt” that began in the post–Soviet republics, especially for nuclear scientists. They were lured away not only by Western countries, but also by the Chinese and Iranians, including in the Central Asian republics,” the expert recalled.