Europe's research ministers agreed to cut the proposed budget for the European Union's Fifth Framework of R&D by more than ECU 2 billion last week. The decision disappointed the EU's commissioner for research, Edith Cresson, who said that "a negative signal had been sent to European industry".
The European Commission had proposed a budget of ECU 16.3 billion for the framework, which will run from 1998 to 2002, while the European Parliament had voted for ECU 16.7 billion. The figure agreed by the research ministers is lower than the ECU 14.5 billion budget for the Fourth Framework. The Framework requires approval from the European Parliament before it can be launched and the parliament is expected to press for an increase in the budget. The European Commission, meanwhile, is unhappy with the changes to the structure of the Framework proposed by the research ministers
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