London

The Royal Society has poured cold water on plans to create a central funding body for science in Europe.

In a working paper due to be released on 15 January, the influential society warns that the proposed European Research Council (ERC) might become excessively bureaucratic and prone to political influence. It also charges that the ERC's funding could ultimately come at the expense of existing, national research agencies, and that the body is unlikely to help raise Europe's research spending to US levels.

Last October, a report from science-policy experts recommended creating the ERC within three years, with an annual budget of €2 billion (US$2.6 billion). The report said the council should be politically answerable to both the European Parliament and European Union (EU) member states, although its distribution of grants would be based purely on scientific merit (see Nature 425, 440; 200310.1038/425440a ).

But the Royal Society says the EU Council of Ministers, which is now considering the report, should think hard before legislating for an ERC. Julia Higgins, a chemist at Imperial College London, and a vice-president of the society, says that despite ERC supporters' talk of “new money” for the council, funds will all come from member states in the end.

“If the EU raises money from member states, that could ultimately affect their own research budgets,” says Higgins.