19/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a letter sent to the research ministers of the European Union at the end of June, 44 European organisations representing almost as many scientific disciplines pledged their support to the European Research Council, which is to become the main support instrument for fundamental research in Europe, as part of the seventh framework-programme of research and development. The scientists support the proposal of the Commission to give this instrument funding of between 1.5 and 2 billion EUR a year (the Commission proposed 12 billion over the period 2007-2013). They point out that in the United States, the annual budget of the NIH (National Institutes of Health) is 28 billion dollars and that of the NSF (National Science Foundation) 5 billion dollars.