Image: Thierry Roge, European Union 2019
Legislation will inevitably be imperfect, but doing nothing would be worse, says Christian Ehler
In late April, I organised a meeting in the European Parliament with representatives of research and university organisations. We gathered to discuss the potential need for using European legal tools to protect academic freedom.
As Research Professional News reported, the reactions were mixed. Attendees from the academic sector expressed caution, arguing that both academic freedom as a whole and freedom of scientific research in particular are complex and moving targets that will be difficult to define and protect in law. I agree with these concerns, but I am still convinced that Europe needs to act.
Jean Monnet, one of the founding fathers of the European Union, wrote in his 1976 memoirs that nothing is possible without people and nothing is durable without institutions.
His point was that the norms of our society are created through citizens’ efforts, but also need to be solidified in institutions. Freedom of scientific research is no exception.
Embracing imperfection
Complexities and grey areas, such as the rights of funders and government to set research agendas, must not discourage us from protecting the freedom of scientific research, especially as threats to it mount.
It will be difficult to find a legal framework that is fit for purpose to tackle all the challenges facing the freedom of scientific research in all EU member states. But just because it is difficult, the outcome will inevitably be imperfect and we will not be able to protect everything, it does not mean we should drop all efforts to protect anything. The aim should be to protect as much as possible, even if imperfectly.
Media freedom is also complex, yet the Commission has put forward a European Media Freedom Act, not because it has found a perfect solution, but because media freedom is too important not to protect.
In fact, the complex nature of the freedom to do research is precisely why we should strive for a stronger European legal definition. Ambiguous values are hard to protect with norms alone—one reason, for example, why the EU has an Equality Act.
Clear standards
Ideally, an act on academic freedom would protect not only research, but all aspects of academic activity, such as teaching and speech. The reality, however, is that the EU is competent only to legislate on research, meaning that legislation will not cover significant parts of academic activity.
Even legislation on scientific research freedom alone cannot provide an exhaustive and detailed definition. But it does not need to: European courts have shown themselves extremely competent at balancing different interests and rights within the context of specific cases.
Europe’s legal culture is perfect for handling complex issues such as the freedom of scientific research across national cultures and traditions, while respecting their differences. My goal is to develop a very general legal text that allows the courts to develop clear legal standards, based on case law, that reflects the complexity of the issue. This will be a light-touch legal framework based on existing jurisprudence and other frameworks.
Empowering courts
As was pointed out during the meeting, this exercise is not so much about creating new legal standards—these already exist. Rather, it is about giving political support to those standards, making them more visible and easier to enforce in the common cause to protect the freedom of scientific research across the EU.
Academic debate, which is intellectually rigorous but not necessarily geared towards actionable conclusions, is essential for developing insights and knowledge. But it will not give political protection to the freedom of research. To provide that, politicians need to set standards, even in the face of complexity, and empower courts to act when needed, carrying out their role in a democratic system with a separation of powers.
The right tools
Jean Monnet also wrote in his memoirs that “Europe will be forged in crisis, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises”. Academic freedom in Europe is not yet in crisis, but we cannot be so naive as to believe that it is not at risk.
A European regulation would not be able to tackle every aspect of the threats facing the freedom of scientific research. However, it would help the EU prepare for a potential crisis and give it the tools it needs to protect its norms while fighting off these crises.
That is the essence of this initiative: not to provide definitive and intellectually flawless answers to the complexity of the challenges facing academic freedom, but to create the right tools to defend it—imperfect as they might be.
Christian Ehler is a German MEP and member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
This article also appeared in Research Europe