Europe's multi-billion-euro research programme needs significant reform to slash bureaucracy and ensure continued support for cutting-edge science. That's the verdict of the top science advisory group to the European Commission (EC). As the execu-tive body of the European Union (EU), the EC oversees the €50.5-billion (US$69.3-billion) Framework funding programme. In a set of unpublished recommendations made to the EC in December, and now seen by Nature, the European Research Area Board (ERAB) says that the management of Frame-work funds should be devolved to "independ-ent institutions at arm's length of Commission and Member States influence". Unless there is a "drastic" change in how the programme operates, it adds, "Europe's ability to compete or cooperate in the global environment will significantly diminish".
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