Hopes rise for new laws to unlock European Research Area

Efforts to keep implementation of the European Research Area (ERA) going continued this week with the publication of a second ERA policy agenda, covering the years 2025 to 2027. The agenda is a prelude to the ERA Act, due to be introduced by the European Commission in 2026, which will propose legal reinforcement for a policy previously driven by voluntary action alone.

The updated policy agenda has been broadly welcomed by the research community, but most are pinning their hopes for progress on the legal force of the ERA Act. This will be “the pivotal moment when the future of the ERA is decided,” said Vincent Klein Ikkink, advisor for research at university association CESAER.

The ERA dates back to 2000, when the Commission announced its ambition to create a single European market for research, technology and innovation. This goal was written into the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union in 2009, but implementation was slow and EU policymakers appeared to lose interest in the years that followed. 

The Commission revived the idea in 2021 with the publication of a first ERA policy agenda, covering 2022-24, which proposed 20 concrete, but still voluntary, implementing actions. Early discussions suggested that 40 more actions might be put forward in the second ERA policy agenda, but the proposal published this week is more restrained.

It contains 11 long-term ERA structural policies, such as open science and improved research careers, and eight goal-oriented ERA actions, including enhancing research security and accelerating the use of artificial intelligence in science. Each of these addresses one of the four priorities in the Pact for Research and Innovation, agreed by EU research ministers in 2021.

Klein Ikkink welcomed the policy agenda’s “clearer focus on key areas in the ERA” and praised the introduction of structural policies. These provide continuity with the previous agenda, and will allow these priorities to become “more deeply embedded in both national and European policy,” he said.

Lidia Borrell-Damián, secretary general of Science Europe, was also positive, noting that the proposal was the result of an inclusive process and “mostly covers the main needs of the research community.”

There are dissenters, however. “I struggle to see how [the policy agenda] connects to the broad R&D challenges that Europe is confronted with,” said Fredrik Erixon, founding director of the European Centre for International Political Economy think tank. The economist described the initiative as “a policy that’s looking for its purpose” and a “compromise document” lacking a coherent strategy.

In particular, he said the ERA was not equipped to address the biggest issue, which is the question of resources and achieving the 3% of GDP target for European R&D spending. “This is the one issue staring us in the face that we need to get a grip on,” he told Science|Business.

Defence, another urgent EU priority, is absent from the policy agenda, although it could be incorporated into actions on research security and research infrastructures. For Erixon, defence R&D should have a central role in efforts to deliver the ERA, as it is an area where Europe “underperforms radically compared to other parts of the world.”

Legal leverage

The Commission defends the voluntary approach of the ERA policy agendas, saying the first agenda “yielded significant progress.” But it also concedes that they are “insufficient” to address structural barriers such as low investment, fragmented regulatory frameworks and research infrastructures, and disparities in research and innovation performance between member states.

Hence the need for an ERA Act, which promises legal backing in “areas assessed as needing binding rules or structures in order to achieve the objectives of the ERA over and above voluntary coordination and cooperation measures,” the latest policy agenda says.

“This is the first time the Commission is so explicit about legal action to tackle the ERA,” said Kurt Deketelaere, secretary general of the League of European Research Universities. While the policy agenda is unlikely to eliminate obstacles to the free circulation of knowledge in Europe, top-down legislative measures could, he suggests.

For Deketelaere, the ERA Act needs to provide “a legal basis for individuals and institutions to attack, at national level, existing legislative obstacles which national authorities refuse or neglect to eliminate.”

Klein Ikkink at CESAER agreed, and urged the Commission to be “bold and ambitious” in adopting a mandatory approach to guarantee that research and innovation becomes the “fifth freedom” of the single market, as recommended in last year’s high-level report by former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta.

The reference to future legislative measures is also a positive signal for Borrell-Damián at Science Europe. “Legislation to protect academic freedom is certainly needed, while legislation to create a research-friendly legislative framework for secondary-publication and copyright-related rights is also essential, especially to support open science,” she told Science|Business.

How far EU research ministers are willing to go with the law is another matter, however. In November, they adopted Council conclusions on reinforcing the ERA, but made no mention of the ERA Act. Going forward, they may resist mandatory measures in areas such as researcher salaries and tax rules not included in the Pact for Research and Innovation.

“Using legislative measures to advance the ERA is not unprecedented,” said Sergej Možina, co-chair of the ERA Forum, where he represents member states. He pointed to the European Research Infrastructure Consortium regulation, which introduced a new legal form for research infrastructures. Member states’ willingness to accept legislative measures will depend on the specific proposal, he said.

A broader ERA Forum

The ERA Forum was created under the first ERA policy agenda to bring together EU member states and associated countries, the Commission and research and innovation stakeholders to discuss ERA implementation. The updated policy agenda proposes maintaining this governance framework, while supporting the “full involvement” of associated countries and stakeholder organisations, which are currently eligible only for observer status.

It also says the categories represented in the ERA Forum should be reviewed, “to achieve a greater representation of the different interests.” This follows a call by ministers for greater industry representation.

While stakeholder organisations do not have a vote in the forum’s deliberations, their contributions have been “presented on equal terms” in the policy agenda proposal, says Silvia Gomez Recio, secretary general of the Young European Research Universities Network, which also attends forum meetings.

“We have seen so many positive changes since we started in 2022 that I am sure we will continue on this path of co-creation and we will only become better at working together,” she said.

EU research ministers are expected to adopt the policy agenda in May. According to Možina, the Commission’s proposal largely reflects the guidance provided by the ERA Forum, and he would be “very surprised if [the Council recommendation] were radically different.”

A full list of proposed ERA structural policies and ERA actions is available in an annex to the Commission proposal