EU for facts: Evidence for policy in a post-fact world

The interaction between science and policy has never been straightforward. But this relationship has been further complicated by the current post-fact debate. As the Commission's Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, noted recently, "a new crisis has come along … the crisis of evidence and facts ... we cannot simply answer a demand for a politics of emotions with a strengthened politics of facts". This crisis is a challenge for the whole of society, not only scientists, experts, the media and policymakers, but also for politicians. We need to learn from past success and failures in building policy on evidence, to understand the causes of this crisis and to chart a new course for organisations operating at the inter-section of facts, politics and the media.