New momentum for the European Research Area

As representative organisations of European universities and research-performing and -funding institutions, we warmly congratulate the European institutions today on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, marking the birth of the (present) European Union (EU).

We also wish to express our gratitude and esteem for the unprecedented period of peace and prosperity brought about by the European integration. 

With great interest we have taken note of the launched debate on the future of Europe. With the accompanying declaration, we want to contribute to this debate and offer our collaboration.

Acknowledging the past achievements of European integration and concerned about the current threats to knowledge societies worldwide, we call upon the EU institutions to take their political responsibility and to provide new momentum, dynamism and equity to knowledge societies in Europe and beyond. 

The advancement of knowledge, i.e. education, research and innovation, is delivered by science organisations in the EU and the other countries associated to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. Together, they constitute the strongest science system in the world and are indispensable for long-term, sustainable, economic and societal benefit to European citizens and the rest of the world. European science has been a success story for Europe! It should be strengthened as a success formula for a better future Europe.

We also want to launch an immediate call for action upon the EU to safeguard the respect for the rule of law and human rights, freedom from political interference, tolerance of divergent opinions, democratic citizenship, evidence-based policy making, free circulation of knowledge and of its bearers, academic freedom and institutional autonomy.

The EU, in our view, must make it a priority to better integrate the advancement of knowledge in Europe with links to the world. It can do so by enacting the following initiatives by European and national policy makers and science organisations in the years to come: 1/ develop a stronger brand for science in Europe, 2/ increase efforts to achieve European science integration, 3/ set more ambitious priorities for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA), 4/ open EHEA and ERA up beyond the EU and Europe, and, finally, 5/ invest more in education, research and innovation at all levels.

We, the undersigned major science organisations in Europe, have, for several years now, engaged in an ERA partnership. As the main stakeholders in research and innovation in Europe, we continue to fully support the ERA goals, which we have adopted as part of our strategies and activities. 

We offer our continuous dialogue and cooperation with the EU institutions and other relevant partners on shaping this new future for Europe and realising an ambitious, integrated, open and world-leading knowledge system in Europe.

Read the declaration.

Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER)
European University Association (EUA)
League of European Research Universities (LERU)
Science Europe