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08 April 2020 Professor Mauro Ferrari has resigned as president of the European Research Council (CER), claiming to be "extremely disappointed by the European response to Covid-19". The Financial Times reports it.

"I came as a fervent supporter of the EU, but the Covid-19 crisis has completely changed my point of view, although it continues to support the ideals of international collaboration," explained Ferrari. The professor. Ferrari complained "the total absence of coordination of health policies between the Member States, the recurrent opposition to cohesive financial support initiatives, the continuous unilateral closure of borders" in the EU.

The professor. Ferrari, an Italian-American pioneer of nanomedicine, told the Financial Times that he had proposed setting up a special CER program to combat Covid-19, but that his idea was rejected and that his proposal submitted to the European Commission was ignored. . The ERC, set up in 2007 to fund European researchers, has a budget of around € 2 billion per year.