In any case, disposing of both the CERN and the ESS will be a major advantage and I hope the ESS will encourage even more young Europeans to devote themselves to the study of advanced physics. But we also need to fund our universities and other organizations that perform scientific research better.
When it comes to economy, America sure has a larger GDP/capita than the EU as well as Europe as a whole. However, the total nominal GDP of the EU is bigger than the GDP of USA.
The last 10-20 years America has also enjoyed a higher economic growth rate than most Western European nations, but, nota bene, the US has also had a far higher population growth, something that quite naturally always will affect GDP growth in a positive direction (as long as productivity per capita, for some reason, doesn't decrease in a dramatic way).