Munich

A power struggle between the European Parliament and member states of the European Union (EU) threatens to delay the start date of the EU's next funding programme for research — and that of its new flagship funding agency, the European Research Council (ERC).

In December, the EU's 25 heads of government agreed a total budget for 2007–13, including a 75% increase in research spending by 2013. If the money rises steadily over that period, the budget for the seventh EU Research Framework Programme (FP7) will be roughly €50 billion (US$60 billion). That's €20 billion less than originally proposed by the European Commission, which aimed to double research spending by 2013.

A research-friendly majority in the European Parliament had also hoped for more. On 18 January, the parliament rejected the proposed EU budget by 541 votes to 56, forcing governments to renegotiate. “We don't reject the budget lock, stock and barrel,” says Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a liberal democrat MEP from Germany. “But we can't accept cuts in research that are disproportionately larger than in agriculture and structural funds.”

We're anxious to get started in January.

Although the possibility of an extra few billion euros for research may please Europe's science community, research managers fear continued political wrangling will lead to delays. Governments are unlikely to substantially revise the overall budget, which they agreed, after prolonged negotiations, just before the British EU presidency ended. So it is up to the commission to deliver a revised proposal for FP7. But insiders say departments are fighting over how to cope with the reduced budget.

“The calendar for the adoption of FP7 is now extremely tight,” Janez Potočnik, the EU's research commissioner, told a parliament committee on 26 January. “If we are to deliver a Framework programme in time for 2007...we must ensure that there are no delays on either side.”

“The commission had earmarked €1.5 billion per year for the ERC, which will fund basic research, but that figure is now unlikely. “€1 billion per year is the absolute minimum required for the ERC to make sense,” says Carl-Henrik Heldin, director of the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research in Uppsala, Sweden. “We're anxious to get started in January, and get the first money paid out by the end of 2007.”

Peter Dröll, head of Potočnik's staff, says FP7 could make its schedule, provided the EU budget is approved by April. But that's far from certain. “I reckon we'll need at least until the summer break,” says Angelika Niebler, a Christian democrat MEP who acts as rapporteur for the ERC.