Madrid

Spanish researchers have lashed out at their new socialist government, accusing it of breaking pre-election pledges on science funding.

The government's first full budget since it came to power in March was released late last month — and researchers claim that it fails to deliver the major increase in science spending promised earlier this year.

In the run-up to the election, the socialists, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, had pledged to double Spain's €4-billion (US$5.1-billion) annual research and development budget by 2008 (see Nature 428, 592; 200410.1038/428592b). As part of this, researchers had hoped that spending would increase by 25% in 2005 as a first step towards that goal.

But the 2005 budget will see funding for scientists in universities and government laboratories grow by just under 8%.

Prime Minister Zapatero's budget — which is subject to approval by parliament in December — would increase total research and development expenditure sharply.

But the bulk of this rise will go towards military work, including the development and testing of weapons systems. Scientists have called on the government to exclude the military component from its figures and to boost funding for civilian science and technology.

Much of the budget's increases consist of interest-free loans that will be made available mainly to businesses for their development work — something that won't help basic researchers.

“Companies or private foundations can ask for these loans, but how are we scientists going to do it? It doesn't make sense,” complains Joan Guinovart, president of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies.

Guinovart and other scientists signed a statement in February that called for more state support for science, which they had hoped the new government would implement. And researchers this month issued another one saying that they are “enormously worried” by the government's budget plan. “We want a 25% increase in direct funds to research done in universities and public research centres,” says Guinovart.