munich

Italy's new government, which came to power in October, is expected to modify proposals for the reform of the National Research Council (CNR), which is responsible for more than 300 research institutes and centres.

As a result, the council could maintain part of its grant-giving role — this would have been removed under the earlier version of the reforms — and keep its scientific advisory committees under its own wing.

The earlier reforms, intended to increase the efficiency with which Italian science is organized, were included in a decree which failed to receive complete approval before the collapse of the government of former prime minister Romano Prodi. But the government did approve a measure to dissolve the current organization of the CNR at the end of this year.

Decrees covering organizational reforms to the Italian Space Agency and the energy and environment agency have been approved by parliament in the past few weeks. But the CNR decree was held back for review by the new research minister, Ortensio Zecchino (see Nature 395, 827; 1998).

Zecchino, a member of the Catholic PPI party (Partito populare italiano), has close political links with Lucio Bianco, the president of CNR. Bianco had felt that some aspects of the original decree weakened the influence and autonomy of the CNR, partly because members of its committees would be appointed by the research ministry (see Nature 395, 203; 1998).

Bianco put forward a series of modifications to the decree which were presented to parliament last week. First, he suggested that the planned discipline-orientated consigli nazionale (scientific advisory committees), which will serve the new government-level committee of experts for scientific policy, should be within the CNR, rather than in the research ministry as planned. He suggested that they should also be responsible for advising the CNR board.

When the current CNR organization is dissolved at the end of this year, the research council's 15 scientific advisory committees, which have been responsible for allocating research funds and advising the government on scientific issues, will disappear.

By tapping directly into the new government scientific advisory structure, Bianco hopes to restore some of the political influence the CNR has traditionally enjoyed. But some scientists are worried that if the CNR uses the consigli nazionali as its advisory committees, rather than creating its own, it could mean a continuation of the influence of powerful university professors, known as baroni, over CNR policy.

Bianco says “there will be no return to the power of the baroni” because the committees will be advisory only and will not directly influence the allocation of funds. But many CNR scientists would still prefer their own advisory committees, where they could be represented in greater numbers, even if these did not have the direct ear of the government.

Bianco had been unhappy that the grant-giving role of the research council was to be transferred to other organizations, including the research ministry (see Nature 394, 712; 1998). His second suggestion returns to the CNR the responsibility for allocating Italy's large research grants for politically defined strategic projects, as well as small grants to allow young researchers to test new ideas.

The new decree has now to be approved by the government.