EU countries need to provide better conditions for researchers

The free circulation of researchers within Europe must continue, and to stop the "brain drain" of researchers and scientists from individual European countries, they must be offered better conditions, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriel said here on Tuesday.

At a joint press conference after an informal meeting of European ministers in charge of research, Mariya Gabriel and Croatian Minister of Science and Education Blazenka Divjak conveyed conclusions from the meeting, which stressed that the European Research Area will also play an important role in ecological transition.

"During the Croatian Presidency of the European Union, we will pay special attention to the European Research Area, with an emphasis on projects related to ecology," Minister Divjak said.

The participants of the meeting agreed that one of the cornerstones of the European Research Area is the free circulation of researchers, but that quality national systems are the best guarantee that the best researchers will not depart from countries where working conditions are good.

"Many European Union countries have lost quality researchers and it is therefore necessary to create better conditions for their work in the future," Commissioner Gabriel said.