Message from Valérie Pécresse

On this first day of the French Presidency of the European Union, I would like to send a message to all students, teachers and researchers in Europe. We will have three main priorities:

First of all, to develop the mobility of students, teachers and researchers across Europe. More mobility means carrying out long-term stays in other European countries, and it is something which should be the norm rather than the exception. It means for example giving all European students the means of finding out about the quality of courses provided across Europe and working on establishing a European-wide ranking of universities which can be used as the basis of mobility of both teachers and students. This also requires the establishment of a European status for researchers, making it easier for researchers to move around in Europe. Only 3% of European researchers have worked in another EU country. That figure is far too small.

Second priority: better coordination of European research in order to ensure that it serves the great challenges of the 21st century. Our society faces many challenges. I'm thinking of the ageing population, of modern energy demands which will require technological research, I'm thinking of food and of climate change. Today we must pool our resources and all work together - Europeans, researchers, governments - in order to boost research on these major issues.

Finally, I want to make the EU a genuine power in the space industry, because space can be used to serve Earth, and therefore to serve all Europeans. By putting our strengths together, we can develop new applications which will prove useful to our 500 million fellow citizens, applications which are useful for defence, for communications, for weather forecasting and for agriculture: that is how space can serve the Earth.

Through Higher Education and Research, the French Presidency wants to make Europe the world's most competitive knowledge economy. It is a challenge for our young people, the future generations, for growth and employment.

Over the six months of our Presidency, we will be devoting all of our energy to facing this fascinating challenge.