Scientists in France have attacked the government for maintaining its silence on its plans for the long-term funding of science just a month ahead of legislation for the biggest overhaul of the country's research system in decades.

Legislation for a new organization and funding system for science is due to go before the French Parliament in June and to come into effect in January 2006.

Jacques Fossey, the secretary general of the National Union of Scientific Researchers, told The Scientist that he was very worried that the government was stalling on a commitment to increase funding to the European Union's target of spending 3% of gross domestic product on science each year by 2010.

"We have no information on the long-term funding plans of the government. The new law covers the period from 2005 to 2010, but we do not have any figures still about how much the government is going to spend in 2007, 2008, and so on," Fossey said.

"We have been waiting to see this draft for a long time," Fossey said. "If the government keeps the promise it made at the beginning of April, we should see it in 2 weeks. The first draft we saw was so bad, we do not think the new draft could be worse."

Fossey said that the unions were preparing to hold another demonstration on May 20, unless they see a clear commitment to significantly increase spending in the new draft.

In the meantime, the government announced that it would create an extra 3000 permanent jobs for scientists in 2006. Sophie Chevallon, spokeswoman for the French Ministry of Research, told The Scientist that the pledge underlined the government's commitment to improving employment conditions for scientists.

"The government has made it clear that the creation of an extra 3000 jobs is just a first step," Chevallon said. "The government has promised to spend an extra billion euros on research every year between now and 2007. This is a concrete figure."

The 3000 extra jobs represent a "new historic level in recruitment" and will particularly benefit young scientists, Chevallon said. Half of the new jobs will be for researchers and teachers, and the other half for technicians and engineers.

But Fossey insisted that the extra 3000 jobs were not sufficient. "The government's decision to create 3000 jobs in 2006 is not too bad, but it is not enough. It is only two thirds of what we asked for," he said. "But the main point is what happens in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. We have no information concerning that. I am very scared. We also want confirmation that the government really does intend to create 3000 new jobs."

The union also wants to see specific measures in the new draft legislation to reduce government bureaucracy and centralization by transferring more power to the universities. In addition, they want guarantees that the creation of a new national agency for research—which was established in January 2005—will not lead to money being diverted from established research organizations, such as the Institute of Health and Medical Research and the National Center for Scientific Research.

Scientists in France set out their own proposals for improving research funding and job conditions in a special meeting at Grenoble last October after an unprecedented rebellion that forced the government to reverse deep spending cuts. In March, thousands of scientists took to the streets again in protest of the first draft of legislation to overhaul the country's science system.