France and the EU Commission co-hosted a conference in Paris on May 5 entitled “Choose Europe for science”, with the stated goal of making the EU “a magnet for researchers”, according to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The EU is hoping to capitalise on the pressure that the Trump administration is putting on universities and some research facilities, to perhaps attract US scientists to Europe. But is this a pipe dream? And are there not too many barriers inside the EU to make it a truly global hub for innovation? We put those questions to our guest, Roxana Minzatu. She is one of the executive vice-presidents of the European Commission, and her wide portfolio includes social rights, skills, quality jobs, and preparedness.

On the timing of the “Choose Europe” conference in Paris, Minzatu comments: “Why now? Well, we are living in turbulent times, that is for sure. We can see this geopolitically. Europe has to position itself in relation to the USA, to China, to other parts of the world. But we are also a continent whose productivity is starting to decrease. A continent that is aging. A continent that needs innovation, like the air that it breathes.” Minzatu elaborates; “There was a package of half a billion euros presented by (EU Commission) President von der Leyen, to support scientists and scientists’ careers in Europe. This is not necessarily to attract American or Indian scientists; it is to make Europe the destination of choice in terms of innovation and research. And that means investing in the resources that scientists and innovators require here in Europe.”

Challenged on the paradox that France, the co-host of the conference, has actually cut financial credits for its own higher education and research, Minzatu remarks, “Each member state has its own issues with deficits, and adjustments that it needs to make. But we really need to understand that it's the time to prioritise those (innovation) policies that will fuel our economic growth and will bring more money to our budgets. If you're constantly a consumer, a buyer of products and services that are launched from other competitors, then you cannot be stronger and then your budgets will never grow stronger.”

We put it to Minzatu that, apart from the financial constraints, there is still a lot of fragmentation in the EU science market, which is hampering Europe’s efforts at global leadership in this sphere.

“This is the situation with many of the policies that we are trying to make stronger in Europe,” Minzatu concurs. “We are working on the European Research Area, which should be a unified market which can allow for the free circulation of knowledge in the same way that we allow for the free circulation of goods, of capital, of persons, and of skills. We need to have a stronger market, a stronger research area that is not hindered by barriers. This requires political commitment. So it's important that member states also engage in this direction.”

On skills – an important part of her remit – Minzatu admits that reskilling in an age of automation is a huge challenge.

“We are proposing a skills guarantee for workers,” Minzatu says. “We will pilot it this year and next year with a limited amount of money to see how we can work with industries, with social partners, with governments. We want to see how we can invest in the training of workers in companies that are restructuring, so that they can face a new job where they are assisted by AI, or where their job description changes in the same company, or when they transition to a similar industry. We are talking with crucial sectors such as automotive and defence; industries where you have these technical STEM skills. After we pilot this, we want it to become a kind of ‘right to train’. In Brussels we talk about this idea a lot; that workers have a right to train, a right to reskill, to upskill.”

Minzatu admits, though, that not everyone wants to develop technical or STEM or engineering skills, or to reskill in that direction.

“In Romania I went into universities and high schools to discuss with the young generation. I asked, ‘do you want to study to become an engineer in water systems, or to be a technician?’ And they didn't. They applied for college, and then they abandoned their university studies. And I said, ‘why?’ They said, ‘Oh, but it's so much easier to be an influencer, to do vlogging on YouTube!’”

Minzatu goes on to explain; “Young people are of course critically unemployed, more so than other categories. But we see since 2012 until the present how in maths, in reading, in literacy overall, their minimal competence is slowly decreasing. This is making us very vulnerable in relation to our competitors because when companies choose destinations to invest, it's no longer about the cheapest resources or human capital. It's about the availability of quality.”

Programme prepared by Perrine Desplats, Oihana Almandoz, Isabelle Romero and Luke Brown

Europe needs innovation like the air it breathes: EU Commission Executive VP Minzatu

Talking Europe