Photo credit: CC-BY-4.0: © European Union 2019 – Source: EP.
On 15 May, Mariya Gabriel left the position of EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, which she had been holding since 2019. Once again, Eurodoc wants to thank Ms. Gabriel for all her great work and inspirational leadership.
Particularly, Eurodoc commended Commissioner Gabriel’s initiative to prioritise young researchers and their careers as the future of the European and worldwide research systems relies on them. This topic was to get new impetus through the Partnership for young researchers careers, which was set out to co-design adequate instruments. We sincerely hope that this initiative will not be declined and are ready to participate in its design and implementation.
Of course, Eurodoc remembers well Ms. Gabriel’s solidarity with the Ukrainian research community in times of war and inspirational leadership in devising dedicated support measures. We welcomed many initiatives to support Ukrainian academia and individual researchers, amongst which the ones by the European Commission were particularly promising, such as the MSCA4Ukraine fellowship programme.
Mariya Gabriel will be missed in the European Commission, however, her initiatives will hopefully be remembered and taken further. Eurodoc cordially wishes her the best of luck with her new role in Bulgaria, her home country, and looks forward to collaboration with Executive Vice Presidents, Margrethe Vestager and Margarítis Schinás, who have been appointed by President Ursula von der Leyen to take on the responsibility for innovation and research, and education, culture and youth respectively.
In our final words, Eurodoc seconds the ISE Press Release on the topic.