THE INTERNATIONAL BOARD OF EUROSCIENCE MET AT CASTELGANDOLFO 8-9 FEBRUARY 2003 AND CALLED ON ALL THE GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE TO SUPPORT AN OPEN FORUM ON THE SCIENCES IN STOCKHOLM IN 25 – 28 AUGUST 2004
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Euroscience is a pan-European Association of some 1500 research scientists from forty European Countries who have come together spontaneously with a new sense of purpose, to construct scientific Europe 'from below'. The idea is that Science should be a sharing of knowledge for the good of the citizen, not simply a source of national power and pride, and that the time has come to shake off some of the old prejudices about science as a symbol of greatness. Rather, we should return to a much more practical view and see the pursuit of science (both basic and applied) as a unifying force which can federate European centres of learning, bringing together people who, over several decades, have been obliged to follow separate ways, and serving ordinary citizens wherever possible. Even today, political forces do not always pull the peoples of Europe together, but Science and Learning can help achieve a real bond between our diverse peoples and cultures. The ideals of science can be an inspiration to all Europeans and can help greatly in promoting peace and reducing political tensions.

'Europe' in the context of Euroscience is geographical, and includes all countries from the Atlantic to the Oural Mountains.

In Euroscience, we also take 'science' in the broadest sense, not simply as 'exact' and biological sciences, but as inclusive of all the social sciences, and even the humanities, all of which we regard as branches of the same peaceful and scholarly pursuits. Within science, we embrace engineering and applied disciplines of all kinds, which benefit humanity by improving our living conditions and enhancing prosperity. These positive aspects of learning are pursued in all the countries of Europe, and our aim is to enhance them by working together, to improve our effectiveness and reduce misunderstandings between cultures.

It has been said that most of European science, despite major successes in the form of large European laboratories such as CERN, ESA, EMBO, etc still remains fundamentally divided or 'balkanised' (to use a provocative term) by national funding monopolies which persist all over Europe. One of the goals of Euroscience is to help dismantle such barriers and to open up international opportunities, not merely for scientists in official European laboratories, but for ALL scientists, even those in small university laboratories, empowering them to participate in the adventure of a true European Research Area.

The European Research Area was launched as a specific project of the European Union by the Commission in Brussels, and is reinforced by the 'Lisbon declarations' in which the countries of the Union promise greater support for science, and to turn Europe into the largest knowledge-based economy in the world by the year 2010. In Euroscience, we believe that such ambitious goals cannot merely be achieved by 'top-down' action, but must be complemented by a 'bottom-up' strategy to reinforce pan-European scientific collaboration from the inside, and across ALL European borders, not merely those within the existing European Union. The aim should not be not only to unify by centralised actions, but also to bring the scientists and scholars of Europe together while preserving and respecting their cultural diversity and the historic strengths of their scientific traditions. Much of modern science originated in Europe, and the harmonisation of these established traditions has much to offer to all the peoples of the world.

With this broad aim in mind, Euroscience has proposed a pan-European meeting, the Euroscience Open Forum, to be held in Stockholm in August 25-28 2004. This will be the FIRST pan-European Open Forum on all the sciences ever held in Europe, and we are inviting scientists from all the sciences (as defined above), from all the Academies, Laboratories, Associations, Institutions of Learning, as well as interested individuals, to come to Stockholm and join in this new celebration of Science. We also invite non-scientists, European citizens and journalists to join in and to make this event a coming-together of all people interested in bettering our environment and our future through the constructive use of knowledge. We hope to attract several thousand participants. The event will be marked by open debates on science, exhibitions, festivals, cultural 'outreach' activities as well as by high-level scientific conferences showcasing European achievements in science. Representatives of the media from all over Europe will be invited to participate.

The aim is that ESOF 2004 will be the first of a regular series of pan-European Fora on the sciences, which will take place thereafter every two years, and travel around to major cities and centres of science all over Europe. At these meetings, Euroscience will provide a platform for other European Associations Academies and organisations of all kinds to organise events, selected by a broadly-based Programme Committee. These events will be held under the banners of their proposers, the aim being to federate the efforts of all the institutions concerned, and develop a 'family spirit'. More than four hundred and seventy such individual invitations have already been sent out. The closing date for the submission of proposals for events is September 15th 2003.
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ON THE OCCASION OF ITS BOARD MEETING IN CASTELGANDOLFO, EUROSCIENCE CALLS UPON ALL THE GOVERNMENTS OF GEOGRAPHICAL EUROPE, AND ALL INTERNATIONAL EUROPEAN AGENCIES ACTIVELY TO SUPPORT THE ESOF 2004 OPEN FORUM AND TO ENSURE ITS SUCCESS AS A NECESSARY PART OF A COMMON STRATEGY TOWARDS THE 'EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA'.
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Castelgandolfo 8-9 February 2003

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