Challenges for science policy in Europe

The political discussion on the best way for Europe to build its future on science and technology should not be confined to what will come after the 5th Framework Programme. A reappraisal of the institutional inheritance in the European area must face squarely our inability to turn Europe’s considerable assets in science and technology into a science system as effective as that of the USA or Japan. It must also face the obfuscating role of the subsidiarity principle in shaping EU versus national responsibilities, thereby preventing the rise of a truly European perspective and, incidentally, neglecting a better integration of the resources of the former Soviet area. Such a new perspective is presented. It will entail a European policy for the science base on which the European Research Councils, the European Science Foundation and the EU could start working now, a determined focus on sustainability, full acceptance of science’s place in society where the advancement of science and its uses occurs in a framework of ethical considerations, regulation and democratic debate on uncertainties. A Europe‐wide system of technology foresight and assessment would be a great boon.