Thanks for coming back to me with all these details. I really enjoy the conversation. It is nice to compare countries and systems.

At least this is similar for me:

On personal/research grants this is next to nonexistent- As an academic staff I write for grant outside the shore of my country. Although, there is a government agency that is trying all it could to get research grants across boards.

Such a long time spent in writing long applications. I would prefer using this time for research... but well, this is how it is. We need to play with the rules of the system we are in, or change the system, or move away from it if possible. For this last option, the job market is however quite reduced. This is true in most fields, with the exception of some emerging ones. I hence see so many promising PhD students in particle physics leaving for the private sector right after the PhD. Somehow, this is a good move as there is not enough jobs for them in academia, and the private sector pays better. But at the end, we train students hardly, and then they fly away... I would love to train someone who will manage to stay on board and collaborate with me for the next decades. We will see if one day it will work... :)