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The French government is facing a mounting backlash against its scheme to attract international researchers to the country, with unions calling the move ¡°unacceptable¡± amid domestic underfunding.

President Emmanuel Macron has made €100 million (?85 million) in government funding available for the?¡°Choose France for Science¡± programme, in addition to the European Commission¡¯s?€500 million (?423 million) research package to ¡°make Europe a magnet for researchers¡±.

The schemes come as the Trump administration creates an increasingly hostile environment for science in the US, with multiple European governments and institutions establishing initiatives to recruit relocating US-based academics.

Higher education and research unions, however, said in a that the French scheme was ¡°indecent¡± in the face of dramatic domestic budget reductions, with almost €500 million ultimately cut from the latest research and innovation budget.

The unions said Macron¡¯s science policy had ¡°considerably weakened¡± French research and higher education ¡°not only through chronic underfunding, forced mergers and increased control, but also through almost incessant attacks on academic freedom¡±.

, the National Union of Scientific Researchers called the French and European schemes an ¡°opportunistic operation to attract certain scientists to disciplines considered by high authorities to be ¡®the most strategic¡¯¡±.

Speaking to ̽»¨ÊÓƵ, Boris Gralak, secretary general of the National Union of Scientific Researchers, noted that US research salaries typically far outstrip those offered in France, and warned the government against offering superior packages to recruit US-based academics.

¡°We do not accept that extra salary will be offered to scientists from the US in order for them to come to France. It is unacceptable to offer them working conditions which are better than the ones for scientists in France,¡± Gralak said. ¡°What we ask is that the government increases the research budget in France.¡±

¡°The priority should be to address the average salary and working conditions so they compare to Germany, the UK, the US. If we can increase the working conditions to this average, then there is no issue with attractivity, so we can attract scientists from the US.¡±

Gralak said Europe should not only target US-based scientists working in ¡°strategic¡± disciplines, such as artificial intelligence or climate, but should offer opportunities for researchers ¡°all over the world, wherever science and academic liberty is in danger¡±.?

France has yet to reach the EU goal of investing 3 per cent of its GDP in research and development, Gralak noted ¨C according to the World Bank, the country currently invests about 2.2 per cent ¨C while the US has already outstripped this figure, investing about 3.6 per cent.

¡°For Macron or [Ursula] von der Leyen, they would like to attract a few scientists. It¡¯s very strategic for them,¡± Gralak said. ¡°For us, it¡¯s not at all a good way to do things. If we want Europe and France to be a big area for research, first they must provide the budget for research: 3 per cent must be a priority.¡±

The French government was contacted for comment.?

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com