The scientific research center ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) that was expected to be built in Dolní Břežany outside Prague, will most probably fail because of a lack of money in the state coffers, writes the daily Hospodářské noviny. The center, scheduled for completion in two years, was to cost CZK 8bn. Roughly 85 percent was to be paid for from the EU funds, but the Czech government is not able to provide a sustainable plan for covering the operational costs of ELI due to a lack of foreign investments the government believed it would be able to tap into. While the cabinet led by Jan Fischer approved the plan to increase the national spending on science and research by 8 percent annually back in 2009, its successors are currently forced into severe cuts, lowering the scientific budget by CZK 702m in 2013.
