Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen are keen to advertise Europe to US-based researchers who may want to relocate after recent domestic policy chaos around immigration visas and university research funding. They announced more funding and a promise of scientific freedom. If Europe plays its cards right, bringing in the world’s top scientists could have broad benefits for all Europeans by grounding policymaking in scientific realities.
For too long, EU law has emerged from the whim of politicians rather than a solid, evidence-backed scientific grounding. Take the AI Act, which Brussels boasted it produced in record time as a ‘world-first’ sweeping AI regulation, at the expense of bringing investment and innovation to Europe. Or consider environmental rules like the Green Deal and health regulations like the Tobacco Excise Directive, which are set to have dramatic unintended consequences. Some of those, like the 2035 ban for international combustion engines in new cars, it promised to review.
Throughout EU policymaking in recent years, there has been a clear trend of pushing grand, ambitious legislation for the sake of positive headlines. That is not a recipe for effective governance. Instead, the EU should aim to create a steady but flexible regulatory environment where investors and innovators can bet on Europe with confidence.
Science lies at the heart of that vision. If the EU is serious about its recent deregulatory and simplification drive, exploiting US weaknesses to bring the world’s best scientific minds to Europe could be the first step in ensuring a strong research ecosystem to generate the evidence EU politicians need to make effective, evidence-based regulation for the first time in a generation.
The EU is intent on capitalizing on the shortcomings of the current US government but fails to ask the important question: even if scientists evacuate to Europe now, will they stay here after Trump is out of the White House in a few years? It is easy to score political points by brandishing Europe as a counter-model to Trumpism, but this only works as long as Trumpism exists. Under a new administration in less than four years, the US may become once again the far more attractive country for researchers—as well as other talent, such as entrepreneurs.
Researchers who think about leaving know this, too. It is delusional to expect people to move themselves and their families across the Atlantic, accepting lower wages in the process, because of a political situation that may change in a few years. Even if one is afraid of Trump, it may be rational to stay in a place that has consistently offered better pay and more funding and not be lured by grand announcements.
This is a regular problem with the EU: it reacts but avoids the structural questions behind the problems it reacts to. The current American administration is a chance to think more long-term and ask why so much talent chooses the United States. It also provides an opening for Europe to ask how it can be more attractive. Such a process of self-reflection could attract talent for the longer term.
American researchers have more funding and less regulation, and they earn more for their work. Europe should try to catch up in these areas, especially in light of recent sweeping cuts from the Trump administration. Crucially, though, the state is not the answer to everything. Funding must be sustainable to inspire confidence. France is already struggling to balance its budget, for example, and has decided to cut its research budget.
The upside of such a strategy is that if Europe becomes serious about attracting talent, it benefits everyone. The bloc has all the right ingredients: a highly educated population, political stability, and capital. It also offers its citizens a high quality of life, including a higher life expectancy and lower crime rates than across the Atlantic. But ineffective, unscientific regulation is hamstringing the European economy and leaving us poorer than our American cousins.
An opportunity to attract talent from the US could provide an impetus to finally change this. It is now the task of European politicians to act. If they do, more effective regulation could cause a domino effect in the long term—and improve the lives of everyone else in the process.
