The European Economic and Social Committee has recently adopted an Opinion on ‘The ERA Act: Unlocking the fifth freedom’. In its Opinion, the EESC:
- welcomes the European Commission’s ambition to establish a ‘fifth freedom’– the free movement of research, innovation, and knowledge. The EESC calls for the fifth freedom to include mechanisms to counter disinformation and pseudoscience, build trust in scientific institutions, and promote ‘knowledge literacy’. The EESC also stresses the need to adopt a balanced approach to trade-offs at the heart of the fifth freedom, such as cohesion vs. excellence, or openness vs. autonomy;
- calls on the Commission to pursue measures and structural incentives, especially in areas where the EESC sees Member State reluctance hampering progress and homogenisation – such as tax, pensions, gender, workplaces, salaries, and the challenges linked to scale-ups of firms and cross-border mobility of people and funds;
- underlines the importance of a 3% GDP national spending goal for R&I (Research & Innovation), asking for an additional 1% for preparedness and dual-use research. To initiate a breakthrough, the EESC calls for national R&I investments to be decoupled from deficit rules until the 3% spending target is met. In addition, other funds (e.g. cohesion) should be increasingly used and aligned with R&I activities;
- underscores the importance of skills and education, and calls for a more effective pan-European recognition of standards for qualifications (e.g. EU degree);
- recognises the strategic role of foresight and calls for it to be embedded in the governance of the fifth freedom.
The EESC’s rapporteur for this Opinion is former Austrian MEP and EIT Board Member Paul Rübig. In an interview with Science|Business, Rübig also stresses the role of the EIT, which it sees as having a key role in providing the strong European infrastructure required for the ERA. The EIT is not mentioned in the Commission’s recent proposal for Horizon Europe 2028-2034.
The EESC has no power in negotiations over the next Framework Programme, but its view must be taken into account by the EU institutions.
For more information:
EESC OpinionScience|Business: EIT is key to completing the European Research Area, says Economic and Social Committee rapporteur