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EU. COMMISSION ‘NOT RESPONSIBLE’ FOR CRISIS IN SOUTHERN STATES |
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Speakers from Spain, Italy and Greece brought some unaccustomed passion to the EuroScience Open Forum, held in Copenhagen from 21 to 26 June, as they described the dire situation in their countries following cuts in research spending. At one forum on 25 June, they were involved in heated exchanges with Robert-Jan Smits, the Commission’s director-general of research, over what they regard as complacency from the Commission in the face of the research crisis in southern Europe. But Smits said the EU should not carry the blame for the crisis. “We have not forced the Greek, Italian or Spanish governments to cut the science budget. These were deliberate choices at the national level,” he said. “We are very much pushing for fiscal consolidation to safeguard expenditure on science.”
(Fonte: Research Europe luglio 2014)
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