Too many top scientists avoid applying for funds from the European Union (EU) framework research programmes because they can't stand the bureaucracy involved, says EU research commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn.

European research funding should be based on trust, she says. So last week she unveiled a plan that would reduce the detailed accounting demanded by the current funding system, which releases funds bit by bit as project milestones are met. She hopes to win approval from the financially risk-averse European Parliament and the Council of the European Union for the rule changes, which would award funds in lump sums with only a single audit. The changes would take effect with the next big EU funding round, the Eighth Framework Programme (FP8), which is due to start in 2014.

Scientists in Europe enjoy the imaginative collaborations created by EU research projects, which require partnerships across different countries and tackle problems relevant to EU policies, such as health and energy. But the red tape is extreme.

Form-filling requirements have been relaxed slightly under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), and Geoghegan-Quinn promises that she will extend this relaxation as far as possible under existing rules. But scientists must still show how their research plans affect diverse EU policies, from gender issues to innovation. They must also define numerous milestones, and estimate how many months each participant will need for his or her part in achieving them — estimates that must be revised every year, when all money spent has to be accounted for, and any deviations from the plan have to be re-costed and justified.

If framework projects could be funded with a lump sum it would transform the whole programme, says neuroscientist Gilles Pourtois from the University of Ghent in Belgium. In 2008, Pourtois won a prestigious Starting Grant from the European Research Council, which awards generous individual grants, but he has so far avoided framework programmes, which he says are overwhelming. He would, however, apply for FP8 funding if the process were simplified.

The complexity of the framework programmes is partly a result of precautionary auditing measures instituted after a 1999 corruption scandal involving the then research commissioner Edith Cresson. Geoghegan-Quinn, a former member of the European Court of Auditors, insists that simplification will not compromise good financial management — provided that the final audits are sound — and will not increase the risk of fraud.