Three months after taking office, the President of the European Research Council (ERC), Mauro Ferrari, handed in his resignation on Tuesday 7 April to the President of the European Commission.
The institution, through its spokesperson in charge of Innovation and Research, regretted this decision “at this early stage of his mandate and at these times of unprecedented crisis in which the role of EU research is key”.
In a statement released by the Financial Times, Mr Ferrari said he was “clearly disappointed, and deeply disturbed" by the unanimous rejection of his proposal for a special programme to combat COVID-19.
“We did not support a special initiative because it is not our remit”, defended the ERC in a press release, stating that “the Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, with which we are connected, was already very active in developing new programmes to support this research through the appropriate channels”.
For his part, the Commission spokesman said the initiatives implemented under the Horizon 2020 programme were “better suited to meet the immediate challenges”.
The two institutions also stated that a motion of censure against Mr Ferrari had been tabled on 27 March by the 19 members of the ERC’s Scientific Council. They felt that Mr Ferrari lacked commitment and criticised him for his involvement in “multiple external enterprises” and various initiatives taken without consulting the Scientific Council.
Deploring “the complete absence of coordination of health care policies” within the EU, Mr Ferrari considered that was preferable that he “return to the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, with real resources and responsibilities”.
A search committee has been set up to replace it as soon as possible, the Commission assured. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)