Since the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community with the Treaty of Paris in 1951, Europe as we know it today has developed tremendously, not least with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, the creation of the European currency, and the Schengen agreement, which allows free movement across borders. What measures have been put in place to promote chemistry in Europe?

In an editorial, Gilberte Chambaud, President of the Societé Chimique de France (SCF, French Chemical Society) explains that with the establishment of national chemical societies in the 19th century, exchange of knowledge and traveling within Europe were already commonplace for chemists. In 1970, European chemical societies were gathered into the organization now known as the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (EuCheMS), which champions European chemistry and brings scientists together for biennial European Chemistry Congresses. Furthermore, national scientific publications have been merged to form a portfolio of internationally recognized journals owned by ChemPubSoc Europe, an organization of 16 European chemical societies.

Mobility is extremely important for European researchers, and schemes such as ERASMUS and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions encourage the movement of students and researchers. Networking is also encouraged in the EU-funded COST programs, which enable researchers to set up interdisciplinary research collaborations. European chemistry is extremely active thanks to the support from national societies and European institutions, and it must be more present on the global stage, for example, through partnerships with international chemical societies.

• Driving Chemistry and Europe,
  Gilberte Chambaud,
  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017.
  https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201709947