Posted for Michele Catanzaro

Science has not been spared from cuts in Spain’s 2011 budget. The draft budget was disclosed yesterday, after the government presented it to parliament.

In 2011, the science ministry will receive 7.7% less than 2010, less than half the average cut to ministries of 15.6% (see Spain’s science budget could be slashed). The effective reduction to R&D funding will be 1.6%, vice president Helena Salgado said yesterday. The rest of the decrease will come by cutting 5% from the salaries of publicly-funded scientists, a measure that has already been introduced in the past few months. And there will be precious few new jobs for scientists – only one can be hired for every ten posts vacated.

The measures are mainly aimed at bringing the public deficit to 6% of the country’s GDP by the end of 2011 – the deficit had peaked at more than 11% in 2009.

The government’s efforts to shore up R&D may not be enough to retain excellent young and international scientists in the country. The lack of permanent positions may strike especially scientists involved in the post-doc program “Ramon y Cajal”, which was originally designed as a tenure track to attract excellent foreign scientists and Spanish researchers working abroad. Several research institutions will face the problem of overcoming a second year of reductions, following last year’s 15% budget cut (see No turning back).

Science minister Cristina Garmendia will give more details on the science budget to parliament on Tuesday 5 October. The draft budget will subsequently be discussed until 23 December. However, Salgado said yesterday that she is confident that it will be approved without major changes.