The European Union has been thrown into a scientific policy dispute at the height of the coronavirus crisis after the head of its top science panel resigned amid claims of red tape and institutional gridlock while other scientists at the group indicated that they were well rid of him. Professor Mauro Ferrari resigned Tuesday as president of the European Research Council and insisted in a statement dramatically titled “Return to the frontlines, to the frontier" that he had “lost faith in the system" of the EU, complaining it was stifling his ambition for swift action on the pandemic. On Wednesday though, the 19-member scientific council of the ERC said they had unanimously called on Ferrari to resign last month.
Comments