The European Union's (EU's) Eighth Framework Programme should boost science-research investment to help the EU to leave the recession and build economic growth, says a group of 22 EU universities. In a June report, the League of European Research Universities (LERU), based in Leuven, Belgium, recommends that basic research get as much funding as applied research because only basic research can address as-yet “unknown societal challenges”. It also calls for simpler grant reporting and audit requirements; in the current system, applicants must justify each expense. LERU warns that the EU is losing ground not only to the United States and Japan but also to China and India.