EU knocks complexity of French research landscape

Commission says national Covid-19 recovery plan marred by spending shortages and fragmentation

The European Commission has urged France to simplify its “complex research landscape” and increase funding to ensure that spending under the country’s national Covid-19 recovery plan is well applied.

In a working document, the Commission said that the plan, known as Relaunch France, was in line with wider EU objectives, but identified “a significant subset of challenges”. Among the particular problems noted, the document lists the country’s low public spending levels, a lack of resilience in the health system and failure to invest properly in “green and digital transitions as well as research and innovation”.