Scientists in France have denounced the science budget for 2005, announced last week, saying that the government has failed to respond to complaints about low funding and poor employment conditions.
The French government allocated an extra €1 billion (USD $1.23 billion) for research in its 2005 budget, unveiled on Wednesday (September 22), at a time when it is struggling to cut its budget deficit to within European Union limits.
However, Jacques Fossey, the secretary general of the National Union of Scientific Researchers, said that the extra money would lead to few tangible benefits for scientists working in the universities and research institutes.
"The government has given money to create only 150 new permanent posts at universities," Fossey told The Scientist. "If France is going to meet the European objective of spending 3% of the GDP on research by 2010, we will have to create about 2000 permanent positions for scientists ...
