EU announces €500m package to woo U.S. scientists over Trump’s policies

The European Union (EU) has announced a new €500 million package to attract United States researchers ready to relocate because of United States President Donald Trump’s policies.

French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced this at an ongoing conference in Paris, the capital of France.

EU commissioners, scientists, and ministers for research from member countries will discuss, among other things, financial incentives at the gathering to lure disgruntled American scientists across the Atlantic.

Paris’s Sorbonne University is hosting the conference, called “Choose Europe for Science”.

In her remarks on Monday, May 5, 2025, von der Leyen announced a multi-million EU package, saying: “Science is an investment – and we need to offer the right incentives. This is why I can announce that we will put forward a new €500 million package for 2025-2027 to make Europe a magnet for researchers.

“We are choosing to put research and innovation, science and technology, at the heart of our economy. We are choosing to be the continent where universities are pillars of our societies and our way of life.”

She also said she wanted EU-member states to invest 3 per cent of gross domestic product in research and development by 2030.

When Macron took to the podium, he doubled up on the European message, saying: “If you love freedom, come and do your research here.”

Trump imposes 100% tariff on foreign movies

He also called the Trump administration’s U.S. science policy a “diktat” and an “error”.

Macron added: “Nobody could have imagined that this great global democracy, whose economic model depends so heavily on free science… was going to commit such an error.

“We refuse a diktat consisting of any government being able to say you cannot research this or that.”

Under Trump, universities and research facilities in the United States have come under increasing political and financial pressure, including from threats of massive federal funding cuts.

Research programmes face closure, tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, while foreign students fear possible deportation for their political views.

The European Union hopes to offer an alternative for researchers and, by the same token, “defend our strategic interests and promote a universalist vision”, an official in Macron’s office told AFP.

The French president had already last month appealed to foreign, notably United States, researchers to “choose France” and unveiled plans for a funding programme to help universities and other research bodies cover the cost of bringing foreign scientists to France.

The Star