Europe makes pitch to attract scientists shunned by US

Paris: As the US government slashes support to research institutions and threatens universities like Harvard and Columbia with the freezing of federal funds, European leaders hope to benefit from what they are calling an American "error" and a "gigantic miscalculation."

"Nobody could imagine a few years ago that one of the great democracies of the world would eliminate research programs on the pretext that the word 'diversity' appeared in its program," President Emmanuel Macron of France said Monday.

He was speaking at the Sorbonne University in Paris during an event called Choose Europe for Science, organized by the French government and the European Union.

It was unthinkable, Macron said, alluding also to the withdrawal of researchers' visas in the United States, that a nation whose "economy depends so heavily on free science" would "commit such an error."

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced a $566 million investment at the conference to "make Europe a magnet for researchers" over the next two years. The money, she said, will support "the best and the brightest" from around the world.

Like Macron, von der Leyen did not mention the United States by name, but she described a global environment where "fundamental, free and open research is questioned."

"What a gigantic miscalculation!" she said.

In Europe, there is a widespread feeling that Trump has abandoned America's traditional support for liberty, free speech and democracy through his embrace of autocrats and the assault on academia.

That has created strains but also a sense of opportunity in Europe, where attracting the best scientific minds to vigorous and independent universities is seen as part of a broader campaign to "rearm" Europe as an independent power.

Over the longer term, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, plans to double grants for researchers relocating to Europe and to enshrine freedom of scientific research into a law called the European Research Area Act.

"The first priority is to ensure that science in Europe remains open and free. That is our calling card," von der Leyen said. "As threats rise across the world, Europe will not compromise on its principles. Europe must remain the home of free academic and scientific values."

The Trump administration's attack on science and threats to universities were the main impetus for the conference, which was attended by government ministers and prominent researchers from across Europe. Increasingly, the United States is seen as a strategic adversary, with the opening of doors to American researchers and scientists viewed as an effective long-term response to that challenge.

Macron's message to scientists -- particularly women, he said, was this: "If you love freedom, come help us to remain free."

He announced that his government would dedicate $113 million to welcoming foreign researchers, promising that they would not replace European scientists.

Alarms in Europe began sounding when the Trump administration slashed jobs and froze science grants at leading American institutions as part of cost-cutting measures. European dismay increased as the US government attacked diversity programs and attempted to dictate to universities "whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," in the words of Harvard's president, Alan M. Garber.