Spain's Research Council Approaches Bankruptcy

摘要

Spain's flagship research agency is in deep trouble. The Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has run massive deficits for several years. If the government-which has made drastic cuts in research funding the past few years-doesn't pick up the tab, it may go into bankruptcy before the year is over. At a press conference last week, CSIC President Emilio Lora-Tamayo warned of an impending "cataclysm" and said that without a cash injection, CSIC "wouldn't be able to go on." On 28 June, the Spanish government agreed to give CSIC an extra €25 million, as part of an € 104 million package for research; but CSIC says that it needs €75 million more. Meanwhile, Lora-Tamayo has issued a range of measures to stem the agency's financial hemorrhage, which scientists say is bringing research projects to a halt. CSIC's researchers are angry-particularly about the revelation that the agency has dipped into the savings accumulated by research groups.