European Plant Science Organisation, EPSO, initiated petition
European scientists incl. Nora Brambilla (TU-München) started a petition to ask changing the title for the European Commissioner-designate from ‘Innovation and Youth’ to ‘Education, Research, Innovation and Youth’ to give the necessary attention as well to education and research in the next Commission of the EU. Find detailed info below.
10.000 signatures are needed to be heard by the EC and the European Parliament!
Please sign the petition at www.futureofresearch.eu (Sign via the indico portal. The 2nd link is the European Parliament but not active, just disregard) and ask your colleagues, students and networks from academia to industry etc. to do so too - best today to have most signatories by Wednesday, 25.9.2019
Signatories who should be highlighted as eminent to the EC / EP, pls let This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. know. But the most important goal is to reach the 10.000 signatories – this is all our future!
Detailed info:
The candidates for the new EU commissioners were presented last week. 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 fulfil 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: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/mission-letter-mariya-gabriel-2019_en.pdf, has emphasized that “education, research and innovation will be key to our competitiveness”.
We have prepared an open letter at www.futureofresearch.eu to 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.
Please support this letter by going to www.futureofresearch.eu and signing up as supporter on line.
With best regards,
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)
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Dr. Karin Metzlaff
Executive Director
European Plant Science Organisation, EPSO
Rue de l‘Industrie 4, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Karin.Metzlaff”epsomail.org ; T/F: +32-2-21362-60/69
www.epsoweb.org ; EU Transparency Register Number 38511867304-09
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Prof. Dr. Nora Brambilla Tel.: +49-89-289-123-53
Physik-Department T30f
http://einrichtungen.ph.tum.de/T30f/
Technische Universitaet Muenchen Secretary: Susanne Tillich
James-Franck-Str. 1 Tel.: +49-89-289-123-58
85747 Garching Fax: +49-89-289-123-25
