Dear Colleague,

The collapse of the discussions on the EU budget has been highlighted
in media. What receives less attention is the fact that preparatory
discussions on a new budget were pointing towards a very major
reduction on the doubling of funds for Framework 7 that had been
requested by the Commission. Included in this funding were increases
for the Marie Curie programme, expansion of the standard Framework
activities and, significantly, the funding of the European Research
Council (ERC).

All of this is now at risk and the voices of scientists need to be
heard. As one effort to ensure that the politicians get a message from
the scientific community, we, supported by ELSF, (European Life
Sciences Forum) (http://www.elsf.org) and ISE, (Initiative for Science
in Europe) (http://www.initiative-science-europe.org) have opened an
online petition on the EMBO website.

If you are in agreement with the petition, sign it at
http://www.embo.org/petition/petition.php

Please ensure that all of the scientists in your institute are aware
of it and encourage them also to sign. This is a case where numbers
and a rapid reaction are very important! Please note also that ELSO,
(European Life Scientists Organization) have prepared a letter to be
sent to Ministers of Research to underline the importance of the ERC.
http://ultr23.vub.ac.be/petition/

This is your opportunity to influence the future of research so I
suggest that you act on these initiatives now.

Prof. Frank Gannon Executive Director, EMBO