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The European Commission last week proposed a small increase in the funding of research in the European Union's fifth multi-year Framework programme (FP5), due to start in 1999, to a total of ECU16.3 billion (US$17.5 billion).

The commission's draft proposal for FP5, published in April, suggested concentrating research within three thematic programmes, each absorbing 24 per cent of an unspecified total budget. The remaining money would be divided between the union's nuclear research programme and three policy-orientated programmes, to support, for example, mobility of researchers.

The proposed budget represents an increase of about 3 per cent, over that of the current fourth Framework programme, of its proportion of the total gross national product of member states. But this may not be enough to satisfy the European Parliament, which must approve the programme and its budget jointly with the Council of Ministers.

Several years ago, the parliament demanded that the percentage of the commission's budget devoted to research should be increased from 4 to 6 per cent. It is not yet clear whether the commission's budget proposal represents a real increase in this factor.

Parliament's research committee presents its formal response to the FP5 proposal in mid-September. It is likely to request inclusion of an additional thematic programme on energy and the environment, and could also demand an even higher budget. The Council of Ministers is likely to be less enthusiastic about such a move.