Greek centres face further cuts

A 30 per cent cut in support for research centres, planned by the Greek government for 2015, threatens their very survival, researchers have said.

The ruling party, the conservative New Democracy, approved the national budget for 2015 on 8 December. The budget includes an allocation of €25.8 million for ten publicly-funded research centres: 30 per cent less than this year, when they got €36.9m. Since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2008, funding for these institutions has already fallen by two-thirds.

Maria Stoumboudi, president of the Association of Greek Researchers, says that research centres are already struggling to meet their operating costs. The salaries alone of the 1,800 permanent employees of these centres—700 of which are researchers—amount to €55m per year, and many of them are not being paid in full, she says.