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Lunedì 31 marzo 2025-Strasburgo

16. Situazione degli accademici e dei ricercatori europei negli Stati Uniti e impatto sulla libertà accademica (discussione)
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President. – The next item is the debate on the Commission statement on the situation of European academics and researchers in the US and the impact on academic freedom ().

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Ekaterina Zaharieva, Member of the Commission. – MadamPresident, honourable Members of the European Ϸվ, thank you for the opportunity to address the situation of our academics and researchers in the United States.

At the European Commission, we have been closely following recent developments across the Atlantic. As you are aware, the new administration has drastically cut federal research spending. Heavy staff and budget cuts have been announced for major federal science agencies. Overheads on federal grants could be dropped from 60%to 15%.We note with concern that some of these measures are targeting specific universities and scientific fields. These include climate science, vaccine research, as well as studies focused on women and minorities.

Meanwhile, across US states, over 150 bills were proposed to limit what universities can teach. Twenty-one have already become laws. At the same time, let me stress that this trend is not limited to the United States. Academic freedom is under pressure globally, as scientists worldwide are increasingly instrumentalised.

As the birthplace of enlightenment and the scientific revolution, Europe has a historical responsibility to defend academic freedom. While we are not immune to challenges, we remain a global leader in academic freedom. In 2020, we reaffirmed our commitment to freedom of scientific research with the Bonn Declaration. This commitment runs through our policies from Horizon Europe to our Pact for Research and Innovation.

At the same time, we cannot afford complacency. This global landscape is an opportunity to show the world that Europe will remain a safe space for science and research. Without freedom, knowledge cannot truly grow. The increasing number of countries associated to Horizon Europe also fosters our global engagement for academic freedom.

Let me be clear: I believe that Europe can and should be the best place to do science and research in the world – a place that attracts and retains researchers, both international and European, in particular those who are in search of a safe and supportive research environment. To ensure that Europe can be that place, we must enhance our 'pull factor'. We must offer the best opportunities for scientists and researchers.

The European Commission is proposing concrete steps in this direction. First, by building on our strengths. To ensure that science remains free from interference across the Union, we will enshrine freedom of scientific research into EU law. This is in line with Ϸվ's resolution on January 2024. We also improve the attractiveness and the access to our cutting-edge research infrastructure, notably in the upcoming strategy on research and technology infrastructures that we are preparing.

Second, we must make research careers attractive. Poor working conditions for researchers drives brain drain. This is why, under our Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, this year we are launching a new Choose Europe pilot. It will provide higher allowances and longer recruitment periods for top PhD researchers who choose Europe to pursue their career.

In parallel, we will increase the support we provide to European Research Council grantees who relocate to Europe. This is already a possibility today, as grantees moving to Europe can benefit from an additional EUR1 million top-up. We will increase this to EUR2 million already this year. We are also examining further measures for 26-27, with a new report on this in due course.

Third, we must make our frameworks simpler and more cohesive. The future European research area act will coordinate research strategies, because 27 excellent but fragmented research strategies do not make a good European one. I have recently received a letter signed by 13 Member States asking to coordinate the measures that are being taken at national and European level, which shows how necessary this coordination effort is.

We further enhance cooperation of our universities in the European university alliances. Pooling resources is key to achieve the necessary scale for top research and education.Also, a new visa strategy will be developed later this year. It will examine how the current rules are fit for purpose to attract top researchers, together with students and skilled workers from beyond our borders.

Honourable Members, to conclude, let me highlight the importance of close cooperation with this House and with all Member States to making this vision a reality. I also want to stress the role that our regions, our cities, our universities and research organisations have to play. Their work is what makes Europe not only a global scientific powerhouse, but also a model for a certain European way of life that the whole world admires.

Together we can keep Europe at the forefront: a home for our two million researchers, one quarter of the world's total, and a competitive, safe destination for global talent.

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Wouter Beke, namens de PPE-Fractie. – Voorzitter, “alles dat werkelijk groots en inspirerend is, is gecreëerd door individuen die in alle vrijheid kunnen werken,” aldus Albert Einstein.

Albert Einstein, en met hem vele anderen, onder wie de denkers van de Frankfurter Schule en Hannah Arendt, ontvluchtten in de jaren dertig het nazisme en fascisme in nazi-Duitsland en trokken naar de Verenigde Staten om daar in alle vrijheid en ruimte hun academische ideeën te kunnen ontwikkelen.

Vandaag de dag zien we het omgekeerde: de regering-Trump hakt fors in op de financiering van onderzoek. Zij perkt bovendien de academische vrijheid in en verzwakt het maatschappelijk debat. Als gevolg hiervan gaan steeds meer Amerikaanse onderzoekers op zoek naar nieuwe toevluchtsoorden.

Dit biedt voor de Europese Unie een unieke kans om zich te profileren als vrijhaven voor internationaal talent en de innovatiekloof te dichten. Om de achterstand op dit gebied te overbruggen, moeten we de basis van innovatie versterken met de wetgevingshandeling inzake de Europese onderzoeksruimte, die voorziet in betere toegang tot onderzoeksinfrastructuur en een strategie voor het wegnemen van belemmeringen voor start-ups en scale-ups. Door de onderzoeksmiddelen te verdubbelen en de Clean Industrial Deal aan te nemen, kunnen we ambitieuze wetenschappers aantrekken om hier de technologieën van de toekomst te komen ontwikkelen.

De huidige bezuinigingen en het klimaat van onverdraagzaamheid in de Verenigde Staten bieden voor Europa een gouden kans. Laten we investeren in onderzoek, onderwijs en aantrekkelijke loopbanen, zodat de Europese Unie opnieuw een baken wordt voor de wetenschappers van morgen.

Laten we de Einsteins terughalen naar Europa!

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Marcos Ros Sempere, en nombre del Grupo S&D. – Señora presidenta, señora comisaria, los enemigos de la libertad siempre atacan primero a la investigación y a la educación. Siempre atacan primero a los que quieren encender las luces del progreso en nuestra sociedad. Nos quieren mantener en la oscuridad del oscurantismo. Esto es lo que ocurre en los Estados Unidos con los recortes masivos en investigación y en enseñanza.

Y, en esta situación, la Unión Europea tiene que ser el faro del conocimiento, el faro que marque el camino en defensa de la libertad académica, en defensa de un pilar fundamental de la democracia. Debemos reforzar nuestras universidades. Debemos facilitar la acogida de investigadores afectados. Debemos consolidarnos como tierra de pensamiento libre. Más asociaciones internacionales, más financiación, más atracción de talento extranjero. Unas alianzas de universidades europeas fuertes que sean ejemplo.

Debemos mostrar a los investigadores afectados en los Estados Unidos que aquí la libertad es un pilar inquebrantable, un faro contra el oscurantismo.

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Malika Sorel, au nom du groupe PfE. – Chers collègues, Madame la Commissaire, les attaques de l’administration américaine contre la science et la liberté académique ont conduit à des licenciements massifs de chercheurs, et le climat pousse les autres à s’autocensurer.

Les répercussions sont internationales. Des projets de recherche collaborative sont concernés. Comme l’exprime très bien LucFerry, ancien ministre français de l’éducation et de la recherche, la science est intrinsèquement démocratique, et c’est pourquoi nous devons nous inquiéter.

Nous assistons à deux attaques symétriques: d’un côté, le wokisme et le politiquement correct, qui ont sévi durant des décennies, y compris dans nos pays, et de l’autre un mouvement de réaction qui entend couper les vivres à des organismes de recherche sous prétexte qu’ils ont pu pactiser avec le wokisme.

Que faire? Il nous faut repenser au rapport de MarioDraghi sur la compétitivité. Chers collègues, nous devons absolument tirer profit de cette fenêtre d’opportunité, d’autant plus que nous observons que des flux financiers se détournent des États-Unis au profit de l’Union européenne. Accueillons les chercheurs américains aptes à favoriser l’innovation et à booster notre croissance, et mettons sur pied des programmes de retour pour nos propres talents.

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Fernand Kartheiser, au nom du groupe ECR. – Madame la Présidente, Madame la Commissaire, ceux qui reprochent au présidentTrump de vouloir restreindre la liberté académique peuvent aussi verser dans l’exagération. Si la liberté de critiquer la politique israélienne doit être préservée, la lutte contre l’antisémitisme et la violence sur les campus universitaires est justifiée.

De même, il faut rétablir la qualité de l’enseignement et de la recherche en écartant des pseudo-sciences, comme par exemple la théorie du genre. En promouvant la méritocratie, on rétablit la justice et l’équité. Les Américains ne favorisent plus certaines personnes en raison de leurs caractéristiques physiques.

Au lieu de critiquer cette approche, nous devrions l’adopter. Faisons de nos universités et de nos instituts de recherche des hauts lieux de l’excellence intellectuelle et de la liberté académique, tout comme le font actuellement les États-Unis.

Malheureusement, la réalité est autre. Les universités européennes perdent en attractivité. Certains de nos États membres sont très mal classés dans l’indice de liberté académique. Les pressions exercées sur des professeurs ou des chercheurs sont de plus en plus fréquentes. Des conférences, par exemple sur le sexe biologique en sciences naturelles, ont dû être annulées. Souvent, ces pressions sur les chercheurs sont exercées par les universités elles-mêmes, ce qui est totalement inacceptable.

Compte tenu de ces évolutions, l’écart entre les États-Unis et l’Europe risque de se creuser. Des deux côtés de l’Atlantique, tout doit être fait pour soutenir et défendre tant la liberté d’expression que la liberté académique.

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Laurence Farreng, au nom du groupe Renew. – Madame la Présidente, Madame la Commissaire, chers collègues, «la liberté, c’est la liberté de dire que deux et deux font quatre. Lorsque cela est accordé, le reste suit». Cette citation de Georges Orwell a une résonance particulière, aujourd’hui, dans l’Amérique de Donald Trump. La recherche de la vérité, la science se fondant sur des faits: tout cela est balayé sur l’autel de l’idéologie trumpiste.

Depuis deux mois, pour les universités américaines, ce ne sont que fonds gelés, licenciements, intimidations. Et les trumpistes vont plus loin dans la dystopie.Pollution, femme, victime, handicap, racisme, éé, changement climatique, santé mentale: voici quelques mots parmi la centaine à avoir été censurés par l’administration Trump. Autant de mots que les scientifiques ne peuvent plus utiliser dans leurs projets de recherche. Les États-Unis, jusqu’alors eldorado des chercheurs du monde entier, sont devenus un repoussoir.

’Union européenne a bien sûr une place à prendre dans cette reconfiguration. Elle doit devenir un phare pour la liberté académique, un nouveau pôle d’attraction des scientifiques internationaux. Cela doit se traduire par un plan ambitieux et par des investissements de long terme pour nos universités.

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Alexandra Geese, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, Commissioner, colleagues, the English newspaper The Guardian put it in a nutshell: when the physicists need burner phones, that's when you know that America has changed. And they do need burner phones; a French scientist was recently prevented from entering the United States because US Border Patrol agents read his phone and found a personal opinion about Trump's science politics.

The National Science Foundation is scouring thousands of research projects for dozens of newly prohibited words, and notified scientists to halt work that doesn't adhere to Trump's censorship. One word on that list is 'women'. The US prohibits public research about women. Let this sink in.

'Free speech is in retreat,' said Vice President J.D. Vance in Munich. Yes, it is – but not in Europe, in the US. But for Europe, this is a very special moment and also a special chance, because when Europe wasn't free, the US boosted their research, offering sanctuary to European scientists. And now it's our turn. Let us massively step up our programmes to welcome all scholars and scientists who want to research here. Let us turn Europe into the global sanctuary of academic freedom.

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Mario Furore, a nome del gruppo The Left. – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, la libertà accademica è sotto attacco, non solo in regimi autoritari, ma anche in paesi che si definiscono democratici.

Pensate che negli Stati Uniti i recenti ordini esecutivi della nuova amministrazione Trump hanno congelato miliardi di dollari per la ricerca e censurato ambiti del sapere, quali il cambiamento climatico e le questioni di genere, e tutto questo perché siamo ostaggio di un'ideologia.

E oggi qui denunciamo un fatto gravissimo: un ricercatore francese, in viaggio per una conferenza in Texas, è stato bloccato ed espulso dagli USA dopo che, al controllo doganale, sono stati letti i suoi messaggi critici verso Trump. Un atto di repressione politica mascherato da sicurezza nazionale.

Academic Freedom Index mostra un declino inquietante e l'Italia, purtroppo, non è immune, perché assistiamo a ingerenze politiche e precarietà strutturale che minano l'autonomia dei nostri atenei.

Chiediamo all'UE di non restare in silenzio e di impegnarsi più a fondo per la libertà accademica.

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Marc Jongen, on behalf of the ESN Group. – MadamPresident, so the Trump administration in the United States is threatening academic freedom? This claim by the European Commission and some MEPs here is pure hypocrisy. Where was the outcry from the EU and the academia in Europe when more and more non-leftist scientists in the US were dismissed or forced to resign by their radical colleagues and the left-wing student mob simply because they didn't bow to the woke ideology? Bret Weinstein, Joseph Manson and Mike Adams even committed suicide. The wokeness virus has taken over US academia and in Europe it's also widespread, including its cancel culture.

If President Trump now takes action against the intolerant and unscientific gender ideology, if he stops DEI programmes that discriminate white people and also restricts the dogmatic, almost religious climate research, then he's taking measures that help restore scientific freedom, not suppress it. We need such measures in Europe too.

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Adrián Vázquez Lázara (PPE). – Señora presidenta, según el ranking de Shanghái sobre calidad universitaria, tan solo una de las treinta mejores universidades del mundo se encuentra en la Unión Europea. Por el contrario, diecinueve de esos treinta principales centros de enseñanza e investigación, es decir, un 63%, están en los Estados Unidos.

La carrera por la competitividad y la innovación es una carrera de fondo. Muchas de las empresas tecnológicas que hoy dominan el mercado fueron en su día proyectos surgidos en entornos universitarios. Europa no puede quedarse atrás: debe apostar con firmeza, primero, por retener el talento —algo que no hemos hecho muy bien en los últimos años, porque muchísimos europeos están en universidades y empresas estadounidenses— y, segundo, por atraer el talento a nuestros centros académicos. Una universidad europea que aspira a competir en la esfera internacional es el mejor reflejo de una Unión Europea comprometida con su futuro.

Ahora creo que es el momento para lograrlo. El Departamento de Educación estadounidense ha reducido su plantilla en aproximadamente un 50% en tan solo dos meses de la Administración Trump. A esta decisión, Europa puede ofrecer libertad académica, puede ofrecer un estilo de vida atractivo para cualquier investigador y debería ofrecer mucha más financiación.

Estamos en una posición privilegiada para liderar la investigación en la próxima década, y muchos de los académicos que buscan salir de los Estados Unidos son europeos que buscan hoy más que nunca volver. Por eso, señora comisaria, yo la invito a hacerse una ronda por las universidades estadounidenses y que les convenza y traiga el mayor número de europeos de vuelta a su casa.

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Nicola Zingaretti (S&D). – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, benissimo lottare come europei, finalmente, per la libertà della scienza, che è vulnerabile ovunque e in qualsiasi momento.

Donald Trump ha effettuato gravi tagli nel campo dell'educazione, ha licenziato metà dei funzionari del dipartimento e ha ridotto i finanziamenti alle università; noi sappiamo che gli Stati Uniti sono stati un pilastro della ricerca mondiale, che ha garantito progresso per tutto e per tutti.

Per questo l'attacco di Trump ci riguarda: è un attacco all'educazione, alla ricerca e anche un attacco alla libertà intellettuale. È un rischio per il progresso del mondo.

L'Unione europea e gli Stati Uniti rappresentano quasi il 50% dei fondi globali per la ricerca e l'innovazione e ora noi europei abbiamo una responsabilità fondamentale: dobbiamo agire subito, per supportare le nostre università nel creare un boom di attrattività.

Accendiamo dunque la forza dell'Europa per attrarre i giovani, gli scienziati, i ricercatori, i docenti e per difendere il nostro futuro insieme.

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Christophe Grudler (Renew). – Madame la Présidente, Madame la Commissaire, avec M. Trump, les chercheurs américains vivent un véritable cauchemar: budgets coupés, bourses supprimées, licenciements abusifs… Beaucoup envisagent de quitter leur pays. Ces attaques ne sont pas seulement financières, elles sont idéologiques. C’est une censure de la recherche sur le climat, sur la santé, sur les technologies de pointe, sacrifiée sur l’autel du populisme.

Nous revoilà à l’époque de Galilée, où la science doit plier face au dogme d’un seul homme. ’Europe doit recueillir ces talents et devenir le bastion mondial de l’excellence scientifique et de la liberté académique. Offrons à ces chercheurs un avenir avec des financements et des perspectives. Les 22millions d’euros annoncés pour le projet pilote sont une bonne chose, mais cela ne suffira pas. Il faut aller plus loin et chercher d’autres financements, publics comme privés.

Dear American researchers, European research needs you now.

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Anna Strolenberg (Verts/ALE). – MadamPresident, a society that silences academics is a society in decline. A society that censors research on climate change and gender is a society in decline. Academic freedom is not a privilege; it's a condition to do your job.

So, to all European leaders, to the European Commission, I have a message. We can feel sorry for all those academics in the US, or we can provide them with something better: a place where research is valued, a place where academic freedom is protected.

Attracting this talent is in our own interest. If not, we will become a society – a continent– of the past. We will become the backseat drivers. So we need this talent.

Today I read Europe needs to revive its hunger to attract talent, and this is true. We have to revive our hunger to become the frontrunners in research and innovation. So let's triple our research budgets, let's create easy visas for those researchers, and let's take away hurdles for start-ups. Let's make Europe the home for academic freedom where all talent counts.

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Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski (PPE). – Stany Zjednoczone, ze Statuą Wolności, w obszarze nauki mogą stać się zaprzeczeniem własnych kluczowych idei. Ingerencje najpierw słowne, potem finansowe, a w finale regulacje dotyczące ograniczeń w badaniach nie płyną dziś z Kremla, lecz z Białego Domu. Amerykańskie uczelnie zaczynają być pouczane, ograniczane w tematach prac, a Departament Edukacji podpisem prezydenta został zniesiony. Wobec ponad 40 uczelni, w tym takich jak Yale, prowadzone są postępowania – uwaga – o naruszenie praw obywatelskich.

Są dwa szczególnie wrażliwe obszary, swoiste barometry wolności. To świat kultury i świat nauki. Nie chcę dokonywać dalszych ocen polityki kluczowego przecież państwa na świecie. Dziś raczej chcę pozytywnie się odnieść do pierwszych propozycji naszych europejskich uczelni. Zapraszamy na Stary Kontynent i badaczy, i naukowców, i studentów. Zagwarantujemy im wolność akademicką, warunki do poszukiwania najlepszych rozwiązań, zarówno by dbać o postęp w medycynie, jak i by monitorować zmiany klimatyczne.

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Lina Gálvez (S&D). – Señora presidenta, señora comisaria, la libertad académica lleva años disminuyendo de la mano de las propuestas antiliberales y también de la mercantilización del conocimiento.

Pero ahora, además, con la llegada de la Administración Trump, la censura, la narrativa anticientífica y la cancelación de la financiación de muchos proyectos de investigación y programas académicos han puesto a la comunidad científica de los Estados Unidos en un contexto de falta de libertad, sobre todo en áreas de conocimiento como el medio ambiente o los estudios de género, que están siendo desmanteladas.

En este contexto, la fuente de competitividad de los Estados Unidos, que siempre ha sido su capacidad de atracción de talento, puede desaparecer.

Así que Europa debe activar y dotar el programa propuesto por Manuel Heitor, conocido como «Choose Europe», para recuperar y atraer el talento mediante una mejor financiación, facilitando visados y fortaleciendo las colaboraciones internacionales.

Pero no solo: la defensa de la democracia, la igualdad y los Estados del bienestar pueden y deben ser el plus que aporte a Europa a nuestra apuesta para atraer los mejores talentos como fuente de competitividad y riqueza en el más amplio sentido del término.

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Dan Barna (Renew). – Doamnă președintă, două personaje din istoria umanității au destine ce sunt astăzi foarte actuale. Giordano Bruno, ars pe rug pentru crima de a spune că Universul este infinit, și Galileo Galilei, scăpat de rug, dar închis pe viață pentru crima de a afirma că Pământul se învârte în jurul Soarelui. 400 de ani mai târziu, astăzi, în Statele Unite, universități sunt amenințate că pierd finanțarea, programe de cercetare sunt întrerupte pentru că nu convin unei dogme, oameni de știință ajung să se teamă de poliția gândurilor sau a cuvintelor.

Europa este acum singurul și cel mai puternic garant al libertății, atâta timp cât administrația actuală a SUA tocmai experimentează aplicația „Inchiziția ideologică 2.0”. Ceea ce părea de neimaginat acum câteva luni este o realitate pe care o trăim. Europa a devenit refugiu al libertății academice. Există deja inițiative de azil științific în Franța, Belgia sau Olanda și trebuie salutate, dar nu este de ajuns. Comisia Europeană trebuie să prezinte și să implementeze de urgență un program de atragere a oamenilor de știință din Statele Unite. Spiritele libere trebuie să aibă un cămin.

Catch-the-eye procedure

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Sebastian Tynkkynen (ECR). – MadamPresident, during the latest years we have witnessed a huge threat to academic freedom. When woke, DEI and critical race theory flooded the great intellectual institutions of the West, this body was silent as a crypt.

Here are a few examples.

Mandatory critical-race-theory training that sought to indoctrinate students into rejecting their unconscious thoughts and behaviours towards minority groups – where was the outrage?

A bloated DEI bureaucracy demanding teachers to sign diversity statements in prestigious American universities like Harvard and MIT – where was the outrage?

A study on the ineffectiveness of puberty blockers going unpublished because of politics – where was the outrage?

Actually, you wanted this to continue, and now you are outraged when a lot of people are saying to all this, 'No, thank you.'

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Κώστας Παπαδάκης (NI). – Κυρία Πρόεδρε, καταγγέλλουμε τις διώξεις, τις ποινές, τις απειλές σε ακαδημαϊκούς, ερευνητές και φοιτητές στις ΗΠΑ αλλά και στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, επειδή εκφράζουν αταλάντευτα την αλληλεγγύη τους στον αγωνιζόμενο παλαιστινιακό λαό, και καταδικάζουν τη γενοκτονία του κράτους του Ισραήλ με τη στήριξη των ΗΠΑ, της ΕΕ και του ΝΑΤΟ. Η προσπάθεια τρομοκράτησης της καταστολής απέτυχε γιατί οι λαοί βρίσκονται στη σωστή πλευρά της ιστορίας, στηρίζουν τον αγώνα των Παλαιστινίων για να τερματιστεί η ισραηλινή κατοχή, για ελεύθερη ανεξάρτητη πατρίδα, για την επιστροφή όλων των προσφύγων στις εστίες τους και την απελευθέρωση όλων των κρατουμένων.

Σήμερα είναι ανάγκη να κλιμακωθεί ο αγώνας των σπουδαστών, των πανεπιστημιακών, καθηγητών και ερευνητών ενάντια στα προγράμματα του ΝΑΤΟ, στις έρευνες διπλής χρήσης, ενάντια στη συνεργασία με τις ισραηλινές και άλλες βιομηχανίες του πολέμου, ενάντια στη χρηματοδότησή τους από προγράμματα όπως το Horizon Europe ή το σύμφωνο έρευνας και καινοτομίας. Να αντισταθούμε στη μετατροπή των πανεπιστημίων σε εξάρτημα της πολεμικής οικονομίας της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, της όξυνσης, κλιμάκωσης και επέκτασης της ιμπεριαλιστικής πολεμικής εμπλοκής στην Ουκρανία, τη Μέση Ανατολή και τον Ινδοειρηνικό.

(End of catch-the-eye procedure)

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Ekaterina Zaharieva, Member of the Commission. – MadamPresident, honourable Members, thank you very much again for this debate and thanks for sharing your insights. I took careful note of them, and I am pleased that your interventions in general highlight broad political support for research and science.

Supporting our researchers and scientists, whether in Europe or abroad, is something that cuts across national and party lines, and we should support these initiatives as policymakers.

In the coming months, we will implement the measures that I presented to you at the beginning of this debate, and we will also explore additional ideas, also benefiting from this debate today.

What is really important is that we will continue to defend academic freedom and independence of European universities and academia, because when we defend academic freedom, we invest in the future. Without independent research, we risk losing the trust in science, which is really very dangerous.

Our approach must be pragmatic and in line with our interests, but we will also continue to be partners, to focus on partnership, not in unfair competition. We will continue cooperating openly with our partners, including with the United States, building bridges through science, even when politics sees wars.

Honourable Members, in times of uncertainty, researchers at home and abroad are looking at Europe – not only for stability, but for leadership based on our European values. To them today I want to say:Europe sees you. Europe is ready to support you. Europe is your home.

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President. – Thank you very much, Commissioner. The debate is closed.

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