Self-interest
It has a whiff of phoniness. The petition does not even mention the Erasmus program, which has been suspended as well. This suggests the petition is about researchers fearing to loose their job and not about worries concerning knowledge exchange. Suspending the Erasmus programme is by far the greater collateral damage in terms of European Integration. And after all, why should the EU fund research in which some of her members (Croatia) would not be allowed to participate?
vir: pure reason