Despite a doubling in the European Commission's research funding for the coming years, the Commissioner for Science and Research will not seek directly to increase European Union funding for human embryonic stem cell research from current low levels, his spokeswoman has told The Scientist.

At a Brussels press conference earlier this month, the commissioner, Janez Potočnik, unveiled the European's Commission's proposed Seventh EU Research Framework Programme 2007–2013, which will allocate €67.8 billion (USD $88.4 billion)—just under €10 billion a year, double current annual funding levels—for research.

In December, Potočnik told a German newspaper that scientists in European nations should be allowed to use surplus human embryos to create stem cells for research purposes. However, Potočnik has since toned down his enthusiasm, and spokeswoman Antonia Mochan said that funding guidelines in Framework Programme 7, or FP7, would remain exactly the same as in the Sixth EU Research Framework Programme (FP6) 2002–2006. "Funding will not be specifically allocated for stem cell research," Mochan told The Scientist. Stem cell research [in FP7] will again be a small part of total research."

According to a memo issued by the commission's office, under FP6, the commission is currently funding 25 stem cell–related projects, two of which involve human embryonic stem cell research. Funding for the two projects amounts to around €500,000 (USD $651,700), less than 0.1% of EU funds available for health research under first-call proposals and about 0.002% of the total FP6 budget.

Stem cell researcher Jürgen Hescheler, head of the Institute of Neurophysiology at the University of Cologne in Germany, told The Scientist that the European Union must become more active in fostering development of human embryonic stem cell research. "This is a very important field, a field of the future," he said, adding that he felt Europe was not keeping pace with the research in the United States and in Asia. "I think here in Europe we need to invest more money in human embryonic stem cell research." He said would like to see stem cell research funding in FP7 rise to 5 to 10% of total health-related funding, with more of an emphasis on embryonic stem cell research.

Hescheler has been a vocal critic of Germany's stem cell law, which bans production of embryonic stem cells within Germany and allows import of only cells created before January 1, 2002.

Carole Moquin-Pattey, head of the Medical Sciences unit at the European Sciences Foundation in Strasbourg, told The Scientist that she too would like to see an increase in embryonic stem cell research funding. However, she noted that at the beginning of FP6, embryonic stem cell research was allowed in only two of the at the time 15 EU member states, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The European Union now has 25 member states, and more than a dozen allow at least some forms of embryonic stem cell research. "We will see more [EU] funding in Framework Seven," she said.

Moquin-Pattey said she would like to see the European Commission take a more active role in promoting and educating the public about the potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research. She also said that if researchers in EU member states where embryonic stem cell research is legal feel they have the support of the commission, they will be more likely to apply for EU funding.

"We know that there is not a single view about embryonic stem cell research in Europe," Mochan said. "We have to be careful how we use the funds contributed by EU member states."

"EU research programs never fund in a member state under any circumstances anything that is forbidden in that particular member state," according to the commission's memo. The memo also states that priority is given to research on adult stem cells, which is similar to the official public stance of Germany's Research Ministry.

Mochan noted that FP6 research spending accounted for only 5% of the total spent within the European Union, leaving it up to member states that strongly support embryonic stem cell research, such as the United Kingdom, to fund it. Mochan said that the current FP7 would account for about 9% of total research spending within the European Union.