Soon after parliamentary elections in June 2010 the Slovak government announced that one of its major priorities would be to build new highways.
This seemed like a sensible goal for a country that has been waiting to connect its eastern and western parts for more than 20 years.
The country's new transport minister, Jan Figel' - a former EU commissioner - cancelled the arrangements made by the previous government on the grounds that they were "overpriced". Instead, he vowed to find more sources from EU funds, but many thought he was bluffing at the time.
The first moves were made on 2 February, when Figel', after having met with European Commission officials, announced that the EU executive would reallocate 120 million euros of EU money from the operational programme (OP) Science and Research and 60 million EU funds from the OP Education.
This came as a surprise, since only days before the media had reported that the reallocation plan had met with strong resistance from the education minister, who is in charge of both operational programmes. Figel countered that those funds would otherwise have been left unused.
Slovakia is now waiting for the approval of the European Commission.
Transfers between two types of EU funding (like from research to infrastructure) are allowed provided that the member state concerned submits a formal transfer request to the Commission (which must then approve it), a Commission spokesperson explained.
In the meantime, Slovak academic and scientific officials were quick to react. On 4 February, they organised a press conference, declaring that Figel' was hammering "the last nail in the coffin of Slovak science," as scientists said they would lose most of the financing they had hoped for.
Science 'not a priority of Slovak society'
"Science is a low priority in Slovak society, where a perception prevails that it doesn't produce tangible results," admitted the president of the Slovak Academy of Science (SAV), Jaromir Pastorek, a famous biochemist who was part of a team that discovered a key protein for diagnosing aggressive forms of tumors in the 1990s.
Pastorek said that investment in science had always been low in Slovakia, and now reached only 0.48% of GDP despite an ambitious, higher EU target (see 'Background').
Officially, the new government includes boosting the knowledge-based economy among its top priorities. However, science received €1.26 billion from the national budget in 2009 but only €600 million this year, with the cuts presented as austerity measures.
At that time, the Slovak finance minister pointed out that the scientists could still use EU financing, but now even this had been taken away, Pastorek lamented. He also pointed out that the €120 million taken away from science could finance the building of only four kilometres of highway.
"What is the interest of having those four kilometres if science is left to starve?" Pastorek asked rhetorically. He added that the 120 million euros were earmarked to help modernise scientific infrastructure in Slovakia.
Vladimir Bales, a former dean of the Slovak Technical University (STU), agreed with Pastorek. "Companies often do not want to commission research with our university because they say, 'you have such an archaic lab park, we should better order the research abroad'," he said.
Red tape
The main argument expressed by Figel' in favour of reallocating the EU funds was the absorption of sums envisaged for the operational programmes 'Science and Research' and 'Education'. They were assigned more than €1.2 billion euro and €617 million respectively.
The scientists said that red tape was responsible for the absorption deficit. "The administrative requirements are so complex that even a great scientist needs to convert himself into a bureaucrat carrying papers to the Ministry of Education," explained Vladimir Buzek, an internationally recognised Slovak physicist.
"There is a perception that Slovak science is unable to absorb the EU funds, but the opposite is true. EU funds are vital for Slovak science," Pastorek insisted.
Slovak scientists are now worried that they will not only lose the €120 million of EU funds from the current programming period, but also that they will not be allocated any money in the future.
"When the negotiations about the next programming period take place, Brussels could say: 'Look, you had the money and you could not use it, you had to reallocate it, so you don't need such funds'," warned Pastorek.
Changing perceptions?
There is indeed a perception in Slovakia that the country's science produces too little results. There are around 27 universities and 36 institutes affiliated to the Slovak Academy of Science. The quality of many is indeed disputable, as they are relics of the communist era. Many societal figures argue that scientists should not ask for more money but start cutting personnel instead.
However, opinions are beginning to change since the media began to report scientific success stories. One example of this new attitude is a petition called 'Save the Science', which was originally signed by 60 scientists and members of academia and has since been supported by almost 8,000 people. For the first time in Slovakia, people are publicly supporting scientists in their ambitions.
