The European Court of Auditors says that the Framework Programme 7 grant-awarding process, the main way that the European Union funds scientists, is overly bureaucratic, ScienceInsider reports. The program is to end this year.
The main problem is that program rules require changes to how universities and research institutes tracked projects — according to the court's report, 59 percent of recipients had to put in a new recording system, modify their system, or have two parallel systems in place. Further, program rules were also inconsistently interpreted.
The report, ScienceInsider adds, could lead to changes to the EU's next funding scheme, Horizon 2020.
The European Commission has already made changes to the Framework Programme 7 rules so they are more similar to current practices, a commission spokesperson tells ScienceInsider, adding that "this will continue in Horizon 2020."