Croatian EU presidency to back equal pay pilot

The Croatian presidency of the European Union Council is to back plans by the European Commission to give equal pay to researchers working within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Croatian Minister for Science and Education Blazenka Divjak has told members of the European Parliament, writes Florin Zubascu for Science|Business.

Speaking at a meeting of the industry and research committee in the European Parliament recently, Divjak argued equal salaries for researchers working on Marie Curie projects in Horizon Europe would be one way the EU could limit brain drain from poorer parts of Europe. “We can plan pilots in [the Marie Curie programme] for equal pay for equal jobs for researchers,” Divjak said. “That could give us some information about what other instruments we can apply to other parts of Horizon Europe.”

Researchers’ salaries in EU-funded projects are currently calculated based on a national coefficient, and grantees in poorer member states are not happy about being paid less than colleagues in north-west Europe. One of the top priorities of the Croatian presidency of the EU council is to reduce the exodus of talent – including researchers – from poorer to richer member states and stimulate mutually beneficial exchanges between countries instead.
Full report on the Science|Business site