Proposal for a Council recommendation on enhancing research security

Key points

The EESC:

• considers that a fair balance should be struck between the need for security and the need to maintain the international openness of the sector, while understanding the vulnerability of the R&I sector to possible malign interference from state and non-state actors in the context of certain R&I international cooperation activities;
• believes that efforts to bolster the security of R&I should never run counter to asserting the principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy;
• recommends that the principle of ‘freedom with accountability’ for researchers and innovators is upheld through effective, efficient and transparent self-governance by the actors in the sector;
• considers that the objective of guaranteeing secure international cooperation for R&I should never give rise to discriminatory and/or unfair practices towards R&I actors, nor should it be in conflict with labour rights and the safeguarding of working conditions for those working in the R&I sector in the EU;
• would like to see the full autonomy of R&I develop within a uniform and coherent reference framework for the EU Member States;
• points out the importance to strengthen the protection of the intellectual property of innovations capable of guaranteeing national security and extend the screening of foreign direct investments to companies subject to M&A (mergers and acquisitions) and operating within the ten critical areas and dual-use items sector;
• considers that the lack of detailed guidelines to support the activities of R&I actors in (i) due diligence, (ii) risk profiling, (iii) drawing up memoranda of understanding with R&I international partner organisations in the recommendation could be resolved later through the European Centre of Expertise on Research Security’s future activities;
• hopes that the European Centre of Expertise on Research Security will act as a platform for the collection and sharing of documents in full respect of mutual transparency and organisation of training and further training courses in the field of research security.

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