Una lettera aperta, indirizzata ai Presidenti Sassoli (Parlamento UE), Juncker (Commissione UE) and von der Leyen (nuova Commissione UE), firmata da più di 11.000 scienziati, tra cui 19 premi Nobel, chiede di ripristinare i termini “istruzione e ricerca” nella denominazione della Commissaria Europea Mariya Gabriel che si occuperà di queste tematiche e che invece sarà solo “Commissioner-designate for Innovation and Youth”. Un segnale che la ricerca vale solo in funzione della sua ricadute economiche e che l’istruzione serve solo ai giovani? Lo scorso 11 settembre, un articolo apparso su Science riportava le preoccupazioni che circolano negli ambienti scientifici, citando anche un tweet postato dal Commissario alla Ricerca uscente Carlos Moedas prima della nomina della Gabriel: “The truth is that nobody was talking about or interested by the next R&D Commissioner”. Nel frattempo The Guild, “a network of nineteen of the most distinguished research-intensive universities across Europe” si è associata alla lettera aperta, rilanciata in Italia da Scienza in rete, che mette in evidenza come la lettera sia “un’iniziativa dei fisici, fra i quali molti italiani, come Luciano Maiani e Massimo Inguscio”. Altre adesioni sono giunte da University Women of Europe, dalla Federation of European Neuroscience Societies e dall’European Brain Council.

Sito della lettera aperta: https://www.futureofresearch.eu/

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Your Excellencies Presidents Sassoli, Dr. Juncker and Dr. von der Leyen,

The candidates for the new EU commissioners were presented last week (Web link to press release). In the new commission the areas of education and research are not explicitly represented anymore and instead are subsumed under the “innovation and youth” title. This emphasizes economic exploitability (i.e. “innovation”) over its foundation, which is education and research, and it reduces “education” to “youth” while being essential to all ages.

We, as members of the scientific community of Europe, wish to address this situation early on and emphasize both to the general public, as well as to relevant politicians on the national and European Union level, that without dedication to education and research there will neither exist a sound basis for innovation in Europe, nor can we fulfill the promise of a high standard of living for the citizens of Europe in a fierce global competition.

President von der Leyen, in her mission letter to commissioner Gabriel (Web link to Mandate Letter), has emphasized that “education, research and innovation will be key to our competitiveness”.

With this open letter we demand that the EU commission revises the title for commissioner Gabriel to “Education, Research, Innovation and Youth” reflecting Europe’s dedication to all of these crucial areas. We also call upon the European Parliament to request this change in name before confirming the nominees for commissioner.

Initial signatories follow in alphabetical order:

Prof. Dr. Siegfried Bethke (MPI for Physics)
Prof. Dr. Nora Brambilla (TU-München)
Prof. Dr. Aldo Deandrea (U-Lyon 1)
Prof. Dr. Carlo Guaraldo (INFN Frascati)
Prof. Dr. Luciano Maiani (U-Roma La Sapienza)
Prof. Dr. Antonio Pich (U-València)
Prof. Dr. Alexander Rothkopf (U-Stavanger)
Prof. Dr. Johanna Stachel (U-Heidelberg)
(contact information is contained in the letter PDF)

So far the open letter has been signed by more than 11.000 scientists and institutions, among them 19 nobel prize winners.
Download the current List of Supporters