Austerity may force Greece to reduce CERN funds

Science : Greece’s austerity measures over the last four years have included a temporary reduction in the country’s annual payment to the European Space Agency and a 30% reduction in national research funding. Now Konstantinos Kokkinoplitis, the country’s general secretary for research and technology, is facing a €10 million ($13 million) budget shortfall. He must choose between lowering Greece’s global science presence further or making additional funding cuts to 11 national resource centers. Last month, directors of those centers met with Kokkinoplitis and discussed reducing Greece’s €17 million annual subscription to CERN. One option would be for CERN to pay half of Greece’s subscription this year and be reimbursed in 2013 or 2014. Another option would be to reduce the amount of matching funds that Greece is required to contribute to European Unionâbacked projects. Kokkinoplitis has started negotiations with CERN to work out details.