French President Macron Urges US Scientists To Choose Europe After Trump Upheaval

French President Emmanuel Macron made a plea to US-based researchers who have been affected by Donald Trump's policies to choose Europe.

“If you love freedom, come and do research here,” Macron said Monday at the Sorbonne University in Paris as he attacked US decisions to shut down university programs. “No one could have thought that this great democracy, whose economic model relies so heavily on free science, innovation, and its ability over the past three decades to innovate more than the Europeans and to spread this innovation more widely, would make such a mistake.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who spoke just before Macron, put forward a new €500 million ($567 million) incentives package for 2025-2027 aimed at making Europe a “magnet for researchers.” France will separately allocate €100 million, Macron said, within an existing program known as France 2030 aimed at creating high-tech champions and reversing years of industrial decline.

A global race to recruit US scientists is heating up as Trump's sweeping cuts to research funding and federal agencies trigger an exodus from the country's research institutions. Tens of thousands of federal employees, including scientists, have been fired and rehired following a court order, with more mass layoffs expected. Immigration crackdowns and political battles over academic freedom have further shaken the research community amid Trump's broader reset of global trade and security relations.

The conference at Sorbonne, dubbed “Choose Europe for Science,” marked the latest push to open Europe's doors to US-based academics and researchers whose work is threatened by Trump's policies. The event brought together EU commissioners, scientists and ministers for research from member countries to discuss financial incentives, among other things.

In a Nature poll conducted in March, more than 1,200 scientists — 75% of respondents — said they were considering leaving the US. Europe and Canada were among the top relocation choices.

Von der Leyen said the EU is aiming to make it easier and more attractive to come to Europe for research by speeding up and simplifying entry for top researchers. She noted the continent was home to the world's largest international research program, Horizon Europe, with funding firepower of over €93 billion.

In criticism of Trump's policies, von der Leyen bemoaned the current environment in the US, where “free and open research is questioned,” saying it was “a gigantic miscalculation.”

Facilitating Relocation

The French education ministry said in a statement it has created an online platform to facilitate relocation for those focusing on topics ranging from health, to climate, biodiversity, decarbonization and natural resources. The statement said that each project would be funded by institutions, local authorities and the private sector. The push to attract scientific talent comes a time when the government is warning it will have to save some €40 billion euros in the next budget. 

Yasmine Belkaid, head of French biomedical research center Institut Pasteur told French newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in March that she gets daily calls from European researchers based in the US who want to return, as well as from Americans who no longer feel they are able to do their research freely. 

“We can say that's a sad opportunity, but it's still an opportunity,” said Belkaid, who holds Algerian, French and US citizenships.

Some of Europe's top schools, including ETH Zurich and Helmholtz Society, a leading research network in Germany, are receiving an increasing number of inquiries from scientists working in the US who are looking to move across the Atlantic, according to officials with the institutions. 

Both schools are monitoring the policy situation in the US, the officials said.

The bid for top talent doesn't only apply to scientists currently employed in the US, but also “researchers from all over the world who are now looking for alternatives to a planned or already scheduled stay in the US,” said Sebastian Grote, head of communications for Helmholtz Society. 

Lars Klingbeil, the leader of Germany's Social Democrats, said he plans to specifically recruit researchers from the United States.

“We are going on the offensive to attract scientists who no longer feel comfortable in the USA under Trump,” Klingbeil, who is also Germany's incoming vice chancellor and finance minister, told the Funke media group. 

In the US and other countries, such as Turkey, the suppression of science and scientific freedom is increasing massively, Klingbeil noted, saying Germany must seize the opportunities that are currently arising. “Germany must therefore proactively say to the affected researchers in the USA and elsewhere: Come to Germany, here is a safe haven for you and science.”