Re: Restarting the discussion

But just as an example, take the answers from ES and BE: are the activities of the ES and BE registries really a line item in a budget of a federal office of their countries? Isn't it far more the case that these registries are run by national academic networks that are subsidised by their resp. governments, which is -NOT- the same as a direct government activity or direct government funding.

Yep -- as I just said in my previous message on the UK situation (which I'd dispatched just as Simon's very succinct summary arrived!). Bob