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European Commission
Prof Ferrari complained that his political abilities in Brussels were “plainly insufficient”.
The president of the European Union’s ERC scientific research council has resigned after 3 months in the task with an attack on the EU’s scientific governance and political operations.
Mauro Ferrari stated he had actually lost faith in the system after he stopped working to establish an unique programme to fight coronavirus.
However the research council said later his resignation followed a composed, unanimous vote of no self-confidence.
It stated it was sorry for Prof Ferrari’s comments.
” Since his consultation, Professor Ferrari showed a lack of engagement with the ERC, failing to participate in numerous important conferences, spending extensive time in the U.S.A. and stopping working to protect the ERC’s programme and objective when representing the ERC,” it said in a declaration
The EU’s executive insisted it had the most thorough steps to combat the infection.
One MEP had earlier been priced quote accusing Prof Ferrari of taking a “window-dressing public relations stand”.
Who is Mauro Ferrari?
Mauro Ferrari is an Italian-American researcher referred to as a pioneer in the field of nanomedicine with decades of operate in the United States. When he used up the role as head of the European Research Council he stressed his dedication to serving society.
In a statement to the Financial Times and Corriere della Sera in Italy, he mentioned his dedication to the “idealistic dream of a United Europe … crushed by a really different truth”.
As the disaster of the pandemic became clear Prof Ferrari says he pushed for a special programme directed at combating Covid-19, with the world’s finest scientists having the resources to fight it with new drugs, vaccines, diagnostic tools and behavioural approaches based on sciences “to replace the oft-improvised intuitions of politicians”.
His proposals were declined all, he said, by the council’s governing body due to the fact that the ERC moneyed “bottom-up” research proposed by researchers themselves and did not see the advantageous impact on society as a reason for funding.
Prof Ferrari explains how he then worked directly with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and established a plan which she added to.
However, he grumbles his direct involvement with Mrs von der Leyen “produced an internal political thunderstorm” and once it went to the various parts of