On Monday 5th February 2013, at a reception given in honour of Serge Haroche, France’s newest Nobel laureate, scientists met with François Hollande, President of France, and Jean-Yves Mérindol, advisor to the President. Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Nobel laureate for Physics in 1997, and Michèle Leduc, President of the Association of French Learned Societies, handed over 153,000 signatures on behalf of the initiators of the No Cuts on Research campaign, the Initiative for Science in Europe (ISE) and the YAE. Please refer to the YAE press release (in English and French) for details.