LONDON — European Union leaders gathering for a summit in Seville today and tomorrow no doubt already have a packed agenda. But now they have another contentious issue to mull over. Six Nobel laureates this week penned a joint letter to them criticising the EU's science policy and demanding a doubling of research funds to stem the 'brain drain' to the US.

In a stinging attack, the six leading figures said fundamental change is needed if the EU is to achieve its stated goal of creating "the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010."

The signatories are 1992 French physics laureate Georges Charpak, 1984 Italian Physics laureate Carlo Rubbia, 1982 British Chemistry laureate Sir Aaron Klug and three winners of the Physiology or Medicine Prize — Sweden's Bengt Samuelsson (1982), Italy's Rita Levi-Montalcini (1986) and Belgian Christian de Duve (1974).

They claim the current target of increasing spending on research and development to 3% of gross domestic product by the end of the decade — from 2% now — is insufficient. And their letter states: "The spending plans are inadequate even to put a brake on the process of relative back-sliding of European scientific capability, let alone if one wants to catch up with and overtake the United States."

It's a carefully timed exercise designed to heighten the profile of an issue which many in the European scientific community feel has not had the attention it deserves. "It's pretty clear that we do not invest enough although the UK is worse than some other EU countries by quite a margin," said Peter Cotgreave, director of pressure group Save British Science. "The US spends more and has more attractive places where you can go and do exciting science, all because the system has more resources in it.

"It's also true that a lot of people are worried that money used at EU levels, rather than national level, is not wisely used. Often it's not clear if it's used for the best science, or the social engineering projects of the EU. These projects are acceptable but it's not the same as doing world-class science."

This is a theme taken up by the chairman of Save British Science, Richard Joyner. In a recent article he argued that EU research policy is still bogged down in politics, especially in the way it allocates funding, with money being siphoned off for other purposes. Worse still, he warns, the very structure that manages this policy means it may never be possible to implement a successful research and science policy.

In the meantime, argue the six Nobel laureates, the EU is haemorrhaging talent. They want urgent action, including more investment in young scientists, centres of excellence and a European Science Council, rather than EU bureaucrats, to evaluate projects.

Sir Aaron Klug says the EU seems to focus too much on industrial collaborations built on past findings. "They ought to be funding future science, which comes from basic research. This is the real engine for advance because it comes from the hands and minds of individual scientists."