One vibration, another, yet another. And this same anxiety which spreads, from SMS to SMS, from laboratory to laboratory. “Should we pack our bags?”, asks a researcher to his superiors on the evening of the European elections. “We have to tell them that science has no borders!”, frantically sends another, on a loop since he saw France appear brown on his television.
As the legislative elections approach, concern has gripped a large part of the French scientific community. Suddenly confronted with the hypothesis of a far-right Prime Minister, many researchers wonder what will happen to them if Marine Le Pen (and her party) governs. The National Rally has never been kind, neither with science, nor with foreigners, who are numerous in these professions.
The leader of the far-right party wants to sort the country’s inhabitants according to their nationality, to the detriment of non-French people. The measure, known as “national preference”, must first be applied to housing, but is destined to become widespread. Enough to seriously affect the daily lives of scientists. More than a third of the winners of competitions for research positions were not born here and hold simple residence permits, according to CNRS statistics.
“Of course we’re worried, how can we not be?”
The RN, long openly xenophobic, has never specified the scope of these reforms. Did Jordan Bardella, Prime Minister, prefer “natural” scientists to “paper” ones? Will it spare the sector? Will it reserve scholarships, aid and even competitions for “nationals”, as for HLM? Will it limit the arrival of foreign students, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, an essential cog in the production of knowledge?
So many questions that have become feverish in heads that are usually so cold. “Of course we are worried, how can we not be?” whispers Fabiola Terzi, director of the Necker Institute. In its establishment, one of the most efficient in Europe in childhood diseases, 40% of the team leaders were not born in France. “The realization of what the arrival of the extreme right in government represents was brutal,” explains the director, distressed.
The possibility of a brown government, a first since 1940, has suddenly awakened consciences. “We are forced to think about what to do with a far-right executive. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand,” continues the scientist. Arriving from Italy for her internship around thirty years ago, she never left. “Science needs ideas, not a logo on an identity card,” she laments, imagining national preference applied to research.
From laboratory to laboratory, we gauge ourselves, we observe ourselves. We scrutinize our official documents, and those of our neighbor, as if the reforms were already applied: “I’m fine, I’m European”, thinks the head of a research institution, before being taken aback doubt. “I don’t look like a Swede, but I’m the best in my discipline, can’t they chase me away?” asks another, from the Middle East.
“I’m warning you, I’m staying!”
Isn’t it better to leave? “We all think about it. If I was 30, I would have packed my suitcase. But I spent too much time in France,” says Samir Hamamah, president of the French Federation for the Study of Reproduction, Iranian origin. “I’m warning you […] I’m staying ! France is my adopted country,” promises epidemiologist and director of the Epi-Phare agency Mahmoud Zureik, Franco-Syrian, in a message launched on X (formerly Twitter). As a call to resist.
Reread history textbooks. Playing to scare yourself. Last time, weren’t scientists forced into exile by the far right? Stick to what is said, only what is said. “What is certain is that science is not done in one corner. We must continue to train and work with foreigners, at the risk of losing our leadership,” says Yazdan Yazdanpanah, Franco-Iranian infectious disease specialist, president of the National Agency for Scientific Research.
Some of the National Rally’s measures would undoubtedly be revoked by the Constitutional Council. Nothing reassuring when you only have temporary papers. “By appointing loyalists to strategic positions, by converting the civil service, the party could exert its pressure, without announcements. It is enough to drag out the files, or to increase the controls,” worries Professor Alain Fischer, immunologist and president of the Academy of Sciences.
The consequences would be great. “Since Brexit, I have been checked at every border. They ask me what I am doing in France. I have been serving the country for twenty years. Nationalism is not just a posture. Its effects are concrete “, testifies Chris Bowler, molecular biologist, coordinator of the Tara Oceans project, of British origin. He was naturalized French after the United Kingdom left the European Union. If Marine Le Pen’s France closes its borders, how many foreign scientists will have their applications refused?
The influence of France in danger
Also concerned, the Academy of Sciences ended up coming out of its reserve, calling for “respect for essential values” on June 18. A long-considered position; the subject is sensitive. The RN is not appointed by the institution. But eighty-four years after General de Gaulle’s appeal, she warns: “Scientific research relies on the intellectual wealth of its actors, linked to their diversity of mind and cultures […] Turning inward, advocated by some, would seriously harm scientific research […] and the influence of our country”. A few days earlier, the France-University association of establishment directors also communicated in this sense.
The future of the 100,000 foreign students welcomed each year in the country is a source of concern. “They represent a third of legal immigrants, and the easiest contingent to restrict, according to a study by demographer François Héran,” recalls Alain Fischer. These young people, in addition to fertilizing our research, then make it possible to forge valuable links with other countries, and contribute to France’s influence.
For many researchers, the simple fact of seeing France shift to the far right would be enough to undermine the knowledge production machine. “Even if the National Gathering does not put up legal barriers, the shift would be so significant that a good number of scholars, often courted by many countries, would refuse to come and would prefer the call of other nations,” underlines Professor Alain Fischer . At the Imagine Institute, which he co-founded, the immunologist meets colleagues of 35 to 40 nationalities every day. What would become of this wealth?
Everywhere they go, far-right parties damage science. The RN has for a very long time questioned global warming or Covid-19. Many of its representatives are openly anti-vaccines or skeptical of scientific bodies, from the IPCC to the WHO. However, these organizations do nothing other than rely on established consensuses.
This is precisely what happened in the United States, with Donald Trump. By cutting budgets for the sciences he didn’t like, the American president caused a brain drain. France has recovered part of it, through the “Make our planet great again” program wanted by Emmanuel Macron. Depending on the election results on both sides of the Atlantic, the dynamic could be reversed.
In many fields, certain techniques and certain knowledge are only mastered by a handful of people. This is particularly the case for artificial intelligence or quantum computing. Sectors capable of changing the destiny of a country. “To be sovereign in these areas, we must attract talent,” summarizes Jamal Atif, researcher at Dauphine. He also fears an RN government. But also criticizes the radicalism of the Macron government on immigration.
At the time of the debates on the immigration law, the Minister of Research, Sylvie Retailleau, proposed her resignation to Emmanuel Macron, to oppose the tightening of entry conditions into the territory. In addition to quotas, the idea of a deposit had crept in during the parliamentary shuttle. The amount was to be taken in the event of eviction. “The catastrophe has already almost happened,” emphasizes Jamal Atif. The measure was ultimately rejected by the Constitutional Council.
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