Paris

Allègre: more control of strategic spending. Credit: AFP

French science is to receive a 1.3 per cent increase in funding next year under government budget figures released last week. But this includes a 77 per cent increase in funds directly available to the Ministry of Research for supporting basic research.

This large increase reflects the ministry's desire to increase its control over research spending, and comes as little surprise to those who have been following science minister Claude Allègre's two years in office.

Last year, in an attempt to stimulate research in areas of emerging importance such as genomics, Allègre created the National Science Funds, a centralized fund within the Ministry of Research. Money for this fund rises from FF318 million (US$50 million) to FF565 million for the 2000 budget. This is earmarked for life sciences, Earth sciences and environmental research.

The overall civil budget for research and development for 2000 is expected to increase to FF54.6 billion, compared with FF53.9 billion in 1999.

The extra money for the ministry has met with a mixed response. “It doesn't bother me if the government has control over the research,” says Pierre Cohen, a member of the National Assembly who headed a parliamentary commission on French research reforms earlier this year. “But we have always said that it should be transparent and based on principles held by the scientific community.”

But unions representing researchers are less enthusiastic. “The government is taking management into its own hands,” says Jacques Fossay, a member of SNCS, scientists' main trade union. “There is no input from the scientific community.”

While the budget may launch some of the reforms Allègre is enthusiastic about, such as boosting genomics research, there is no money for other promised reforms, such as creating more posts for young researchers.

“There is little creation of employment,” says Pierre Papon, a former head of the country's main research agency, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

The Funds for Technology Research, aimed at boosting research in high-technology areas, will receive FF905 million, a 35 per cent increase. The money is for research into information and communications technology and for incubating start-up technology companies.

Spending on research laboratories in agencies such as the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the health research agency Inserm will increase by 3.5 per cent, and universities will receive an extra 3.1 per cent for research.