Science chief quits after ‘losing faith’ in politicians’ response to Covid-19
THE head of the European Union’s top science organisation has resigned in frustration at the height of the Covid-19 crisis.
Mauro Ferrari had become president of the European Research Council on January 1, but EU Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke said “Professor Ferrari resigned”, effective immediately.
The research council said later his resignation followed a written, unanimous vote of no confidence.
“Since his appointment, Professor Ferrari displayed a lack of engagement with the ERC, failing to participate in many important meetings, spending extensive time in the USA and failing to defend the ERC’S programme and mission when representing the ERC,” it said in a statement.
One MEP had earlier been quoted accusing Mr Ferrari of taking a “window-dressing public relations stand”.
The sudden resignation of Mr Ferrari and his stinging criticism was bound to add pressure on EU institutions, which have been accused of not working together to battle the global pandemic.
The news was first announced by the Financial Times, based on a statement released to the paper by Mr Ferrari, who said he had “been extremely disappointed by the European response” to the pandemic.
He complained about running into institutional and political obstacles as he sought to swiftly set up a scientific programme to combat the virus.
“I have seen enough of both the governance of science, and the political operations at the European Union,” he wrote. “I have lost faith in the system itself.”
The European Commission yesterday defended its record in combating the crisis and said 18 research and development projects had already been picked at short notice to fight the coronavirus crisis.
It said another 50 European Research Council projects were contributing in the Eu-wide effort.
“The European Union has the most comprehensive package of measures combating the coronavirus and it is deploying different instruments to have the biggest impact for solving the crisis,” said the EU’S executive Commission.
As the coronavirus spread from China to Italy, Austria, Spain and other EU nations, the bloc was criticised for not acting forcefully enough to set up a coordinated response even though health issues are still primarily the responsibility of the bloc’s 27 individual nations.
Over the past month, EU nations have been trying to work closer together and European Union leaders have committed to better coordination to try to alleviate the human and economic suffering from the global pandemic that has upended the daily lives of billions and dealt a huge blow to the economies around the world.
But it remains an uphill struggle.