PHOTO: REUTERS/GONZALO FUENTES
SCIENCE science.org 8 APRIL 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6589 123I
n a repeat of 2017, centrist French Presi-
dent Emmanuel Macron and far-right
nationalist Marine Le Pen are the lead-
ing contenders in presidential elections
on 10 April. Academics, who are gener-
ally left leaning, dislike Le Pen for her
anti-immigration and isolationist views. But
many scientists are also uneasy with Macron,
because a second term would let him pursue
controversial efforts to strengthen universi-
ties at the expense of national research orga-
nizations like CNRS and INSERM.
Macron views universities as more nimble
and innovative than the national bodies,
which are still the backbone of research in
France. The “potential danger” is that the
organizations will lose autonomy and be-
come subservient to universities, says Patrick
Monfort, a microbial ecologist at the Uni-
versity of Montpellier and member of a
researcher trade union. He worries about
Macron’s vision that “to improve the effi-
ciency of universities, we must give them all
the resources of the research organizations.”
The latest opinion polls put Macron at
27% of the vote, versus 21% for Le Pen. Far-
left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon is polling
at 15%. If no one wins an absolute majority
on 10 April, the two leaders would face each
other in a runoff 2 weeks later. The tradi-
tional parties are lagging behind, as in 2017.
Conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse, a
former research minister, is polling at about
10%, whereas socialist candidate AnneHidalgo has struggled to get any notice.
Although Le Pen’s popularity is rising,
many pundits expect Macron to win. That
would allow him to make good on plans laid
out in a 2020 science bill, which promises to
raise public research spending from about
€15 billion per year to €20 billion by 2030,
aiming for 3% of gross domestic product.
Researchers welcome that goal but point
out that even then, R&D spending would fall
short of that of competitors such as Germany.
“There has been a catch-up effort, but it is not
sufficient,” says Manuel Tunon de Lara, presi-
dent of France Universités, an association of
74 universities.
The law also launched a battery of mea-
sures to make French science more compet-
itive. In its first year of implementation, the
law increased funding at the National Re-
search Agency, allowing it to raise the suc-
cess rate for competitive grant applications
to 23%, compared with 17% in 2020. Uni-
versity professors and permanent research-
ers are now guaranteed a salary of at least
€3200 per month, twice the minimum wage.
The law also created nearly 100 “junior pro-
fessor” positions resembling tenure-track
posts elsewhere. Trade unions criticized
the new positions as an attack on France’s
tradition of offering permanent jobs even at
entry level.
Macron’s efforts to reorganize French sci-
ence around elite universities have sparked
more unease. In March, Macron earmarked
€300 million per year to support education,
research, and innovation at 17 university-ledalliances, the first of which were launched
in 2011. Macron credits them with raising
the international profile of select French
universities and boosting France’s success at
winning grants from the European Research
Council. But Bruno Andreotti, a physicist
at Paris City University and member of the
radical researcher collective RogueESR, says
the initiative has led to a culture of the have
and the have-nots. “There is this fantasy ...
to have 10 cutting-edge research universities
and the ... others, to abandon them.”
Even more controversial changes could
come with Macron’s reelection. At his first
press conference as a presidential candidate
on 17 March, Macron declared he would
“make [universities] fully fledged research
performers.” This would require giving
them “full autonomy and go all the way
through on reforms initiated a decade ago.”
He was alluding to a long-standing ef-
fort to reform a peculiarity of the French
research system: the so-called mixed re-
search units, which bring together research-
ers from both universities and the national
research organizations. At a university
congress in January, Macron indicated
the research organizations should merely
provide support for universities. Tunon de
Lara, who supports Macron’s proposal, says
the duplicated and ill-defined roles between
universities and research organizations are
hampering efficiency. “This is an orchestra
with different instruments—it cannot be a
cacophony,” he says. If “we have an ambi-
tion of international competition ... then
everyone must be able to play their role.”
But Sabrina Speich, a climate scientist at
the École Normale Supérieure who works in
a mixed research unit, says they are “an in-
credible strength” of the French system, one
that allows for a richness of both research
and training. Previous attempts by Pécresse
to reform the mixed research units failed.
In campaign pledges, Mélenchon said he
would maintain the current roles of univer-
sities and research organizations. Le Pen
has not offered a position.
Macron’s announcements have already
met some backlash. Patrick Flandrin, a
CNRS physicist and president of the French
Academy of Sciences, says universities and
research organizations must continue to
“cohabitate.” The real problem is chronic
underfunding, Monfort says. Universities
“are deluding themselves into believing that
they would have more resources” if they
had more control over the mixed research
units, Monfort says. They would just have
“more power ... with a constant budget.” jFrench election could buoy
president’s R&D overhaul
Macron vows reforms of national research bodies
EUROPEThe reelection of French President Emmanuel Macron
could see universities gain more control over national
research laboratories.By Elisabeth Pain