The statement was published with regards to the upcoming European Parliamentary elections, and it is addressed to its candidates. It shows the common position of all EU academies on four topics: the EU’s science and innovation leadership, open science, investment in science and science for policy.
In the first topic, signatories acknowledged the EU’s prestigious position on the global R&I stage, however, they highlighted that this should not be taken for granted, and the openness of science, investments and scientific policy (the three other discussed topics) must be safeguarded.
Elaborating on open science, the statement expressed the importance of international collaboration and science-diplomacy, and discouraged policymakers from raising barriers to this, while also called for the protection of academic freedoms.
With regards to investments, the statement reminded the future parliament about the commitment of investing at least 3% of GDP into research and development and recommended the reinforcement of the EU research framework programmes.
Finally, it highlighted a number of policy challenges, related to climate, biodiversity and energy amongst others, highlighted that these issues cannot be addressed without science, and called for a dialogue between all policy actors.
The presidents of all 27 academies signed this high profile statement – this occasion marks the first time for such consensus amongst all member state academies.
