The recent resignation of the President of the European Research Council (ERC) Mauro Ferrari has opened a wide discussion both on the method of designation of the President of the ERC and on the validity of the different funding mechanisms for scientific research. From this point of view, Sars-CoV-2 was not only responsible for the pandemic, but also triggered a debate on an alleged primacy of applied research over the fundamental research.
European Research Council: bottom-up principles of the Scientific Council and top-down proposal of the resigned President.