Paris (AFP)

Repeatedly rejected, the research bill, which provides for an unprecedented investment to breathe new life into the system, was adopted Wednesday in the Council of Ministers against a backdrop of fierce protest against a reform deemed to be a sham.

"Never since the end of the Second World War has a government made such an investment in research", with a budget forecast of 25 billion euros over 10 years, argued the Minister of Research, Frédérique Vidal, at the end of the Council of Ministers.

The fruit of 18 months of discussions and hearings, postponed several times, the multiannual research programming law (LPPR) was launched by Edouard Philippe in February 2019. It must now be debated in Parliament in September.

Its ambition: to give "time, visibility and resources" to a system weakened by a chronic investment deficit, and put France back on the rails of global scientific competition.

The 25 billion euros must be injected in stages over the next ten years via a gradual increase: 400 million in 2021, 800 million in 2022, 1.2 billion in 2023 ... With the objective, in 2030, an annual budget of 20 billion euros per year, or 5 billion more than at present.

This should allow the public research budget to reach 1% of GDP, the level to which the country committed 20 years ago.

But the opponents of the LPPR denounce a reform in "trompe-l'oeil" making weigh most of the budgetary efforts on the following five-year terms. The only "guaranteed" funding is the envelope of 400 million euros next year, or 100 million less than in 2020, they stress.

Long-awaited after decades of clear cuts, the LPPR unleashed an unprecedented wave of protest in the academic and scientific world, where unions and collectives have stepped up actions (rallies, petitions, resignations, "dead faculties" days ...) , and sent several thousand people to the streets in early March to demand the withdrawal of an "iniquitous" project.

- "A forced march" -

"While the Head of State announced in March the suspension of reforms due to the global pandemic, the Minister of Research continues to push forward a bill which continues to arouse new opposition," a reacted in a press release the collective of "Facs and Labs in struggle", spearhead of the mobilization.

Several bodies consulted in recent weeks have also voiced criticism. In a scathing opinion issued in June, the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese) notably considered that the planned investment was "not up to the challenges". The Academy of Sciences has also expressed its "disappointment".

Beyond the budget, it is the philosophy of the text that is criticized because it focuses funding on calls for projects, by boosting the National Research Agency (ANR) to the tune of one billion euros.

The protesters see in it the advent of short-term, “competitive and selective” research, promoting “stars” to the detriment of the collective and the long-term funding of laboratories.

"It is because of this research project that France has fallen behind in research on coronaviruses", estimated Samuel Hayat, CNRS researcher and member of "Facs et labos en Lut", interviewed in front of Frédérique Vidal, on France Culture.

On the social side, the LPPR wants to strengthen the attractiveness of research for rare disciplines and young scientists, often "sucked" abroad. Part of the budget will thus be devoted to upgrading careers, and more than 5,000 researcher jobs will be created.

But the major point of tension relates to the establishment of parallel recruitment routes: American-style "tenure track", a contract providing access to tenure after a maximum of six years, as well as "permanent contracts of scientific mission ", which make unions fear an explosion of precariousness in a profession where a quarter of the workforce is already non-tenured.

© 2020 AFP