Then in mid April Nature reported "[after] negotiations last week with representatives of the scientific community, Fillon and d'Aubert announced a series of emergency measures for research, including the scientists' key demand of 550 new full-time research posts for young scientists. The government also agreed to a further 1,050 university posts -- 300 immediately and 750 in January 2005."

The government had already agreed to "unfreeze" €294 million from the 2002 and 2003 budgets and reinstate 120 full-time civil service jobs, and Fillon said intends to place before the French parliament by the end of the year planned reforms and a revised funding plan for French research and pledged that the scientific community will be consulted in drafting the reforms.

This galvanised Fernch scientists across the country to organize working groups to prepare a series of reports. Last week's two-day session distilled those reports into specific proposals which were voted on and accept almost unanimously. According to Science, They call for "more coherent government oversight and stronger support of scientific careers. The proposals include creating a single research and higher education ministry, an independent higher science council to advise the government on strategy, a new body to evaluate all researchers, a long-term jobs plan for researchers, and more crossover between agency and academic science. They ask that lecturers' teaching loads be halved and that universities be reformed in depth. Doctoral students, who now have no health or social security coverage, should be given proper pay and working conditions, and postdocs should be given associate researcher contracts of up to 3 years."

Just how Fillon will champion the scientists 70-page agenda which will be presented to him and his Research Minister François d'Aubert  today, and how effective they will be in gaining support from their governmental colleagues is an open question.