[MGSA-L] Former E.U. Research Chief Resigns From Greek Government Post

[June Samaras]

Former E.U. Research Chief Resigns From Greek Government Post

by Gretchen Vogel on 18 January 2011, 11:37 AM |

Greek scientists are greeting with dismay the news that Achilleas
Mitsos has resigned from the country's education ministry. Mitsos, one
of Europe's leading science policy wonks (he served as the European
Commission's director-general for research from 2000 to 2005), was
appointed secretary general for research and technology in the Greek
education ministry in 2009. At the time, he told reporters, he hoped
to help boost Greek science by setting up a peer-reviewed grant
system, primarily with €1 billion in European Union funding that
Greece had earmarked for research.

But a year later, only one call for applications—for a small grant for
postdocs—had been issued, and no money had been awarded. Saying that
disagreements with the deputy minister of education, Yiannis
Panaretos, prevented him from doing his job, Mitsos resigned at the
end of December. (Greek media reported that Panaretos said he asked
for Mitsos's resignation, since he hadn't produced any results.)

"It is a pity for Greece and for Greek science," says Andreas Drouzas,
a botanist at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. "To have a
person like Mitsos, who has all this experience—it is a pity to have
him in that position and not be able to do his job."

Mitsos got caught in an ongoing political battle to revamp the Greek
research landscape, says George Kollias, president of the Alexander
Fleming Biomedical Sciences Research Center in Vari. "In this battle
there was a victim, and it was Mitsos," he says. Kollias adds that
such battles are to be expected, but even in the middle of reform
battles, "the government should not forget that there are places [in
Greek research] that serve excellence, innovation, and good quality
science. Independently of the big battles, they should fund structures
that support the places that have already proven themselves as
excellent."

Mitsos apparently agrees. In his letter of resignation he wrote, "In
Greece we see a paradox. While we have extraordinary researchers, the
quality of research is mediocre." He had hoped to support those top
researchers through transparent peer-review programs, he says.

Despite his differences with Panaretos, Mitsos made it clear in his
letter that he still had a "very positive opinion" of the current
government's overall policies and its minister of education, Anna
Diamantopoulou. Mitsos, an economist, says he will return to academia.
Before joining the government, he was professor of "International
Economic Relations and the Environment" at the University of the
Aegean in Mytilene.


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June Samaras
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