Merkel's move on science

Nearly eight years ago, Science magazine published an opinion piece by a German government minister, proclaiming that " technical and scientific innovations provide excellent prospects for environmental protection. " To master the challenge of sustainable development, the minister wrote, " decision-makers require interdisciplinary approaches and strategies that cut across political lines. " Now this minister has the perfect chance to put these words into practice. Angela Merkel, who was the last minister for the environment under Helmut Kohl and then rose to the leadership of the Christian Democrats during their seven years in opposition, now heads a grand coalition government which literally cuts across political lines, and which has the clout to address the challenges of the future with its vast parliamentary majority. As the byline of that Science piece helpfully clarified, Angela Merkel holds a PhD in physics. She also happens to be married to a professor of chemistry. Has German science finally found an advocate at the very top of the political hierarchy? Any such hopes must have been slightly dampened last autumn when a woman of the church, theologian Annette Schavan, was put in charge of the ministry for research and education (BMBF), replacing the social democrat Edelgard Bulmahn. Now, after the customary 100 days of warm-up time have passed and the budget for 2006 has been released, researchers can begin to assess whether they will benefit from the science background of the first woman chancellor, or suffer from the lack thereof displayed by the research minister. At the end of February, the government released details of the 2006 budget including the research funding. In addition to upholding the current level of funding, the government plans to spend an additional 6 billion euros by the year 2009, of which 4 billion euros will go directly into the BMBF budget, which in the current year will rise by 5.6 per cent to just over 8 billion euros. Schavan's ministry will also take the lead in managing the entire 6-billion initiative. The budget places some emphasis on project development in the areas of life sciences, new technologies, and sustainable development, following the ideas Merkel laid out eight years earlier. The plan is to create 'lighthouse projects' which serve to set directions for science and to make German research more visible internationally. Over one billion euros are earmarked for this light show. The controversial initiative to identify a small number …