Legislation is needed to bring ERA to the next level

MEPs Luigi Berlinguer, former Italian science minister, and Amalia Sartori, Chair of the Parliament's research committee, have called on the EU to introduce laws to speed up progress on the single market for research, the European Research Area (ERA). This follows a recent progress report showing that more than a decade after the initiative’s launch, R&D in Europe continues to be underfunded and fragmented, with significant barriers to collaboration.

While the Commission has said it favours a solely political approach to reinvigorating the  creation of ERA, the two MEPs say this softly-softly approach – based on encouraging member states to reform their structures on a voluntary basis – has not worked. The fact that the most prominent obstacles facing research collaboration in Europe have not changed since the initiative began in 2000, shows, “A new ERA framework is needed,” Berlinguer and Sartori say.

In their manifesto, A Maastricht for Research , the two call for new laws, saying, “The most far-sighted and courageous approach should take the form of directives and, in the long run, of a constitutional commitment.” 

When she spoke on the issue to MEPs during the October plenary session of the European Parliament, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research and Innovation, did not rule out the possibility of legislation, saying, “All options are on the table.” Following this, the meeting of European Heads of State in Brussels last week said there is a need to “accelerate structural reforms” and to “strengthen progress monitoring” of the initiative. The EU leaders emphasised the need to improve the mobility and career prospects of researchers, but stopped short of commenting on concrete deadlines or legislative measures.

Whatever the sentiment currently, ERA will have to wait sometime before there is any major overhaul - as the decision on whether or not to enact legislation will fall to the new Commission and Parliament after the elections next year. 

The MEPs’ Maastricht Research manifesto, named after the 1992 treaty which granted freedom of movement of goods, capital, people, and services in Europe, lists five main obstacles that stand in the way of creating the “fifth freedom”— the free circulation of knowledge.