Lobbyists were on Sunday night exerting last-minute influence ahead of a vote on Monday on whether to continue European Union funding for stem-cell research.

Critics were trying to reassemble support for further limits on EU-backed experiments on human embryonic stem cells just days after George W. Bush, US president, vetoed measures to increase US federal money spent on such work.

Backers of research on human embryos argue it could allow scientists to find cures for diseases such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and heart failure. Opponents say the experiments kill human life. The scope of the research is challenged by some EU countries, certain religious groups and non-governmental organisations.

Late last week, Germany, Poland and others looked to have failed in their efforts to curb EU-funded work after Slovenia switched from the conservative to the pro-research camp.

Slovenia’s four votes would break a wafer-thin blocking minority of EU member states and swing a decision in favour of continued funding for the science under existing guidelines.

But diplomats warned on Sunday it was still difficult to predict whether a deal would be reached to back the continued use of EU money amid last minute lobbying by governments and churches.

The diplomats said that Italy or Ireland, which had indicated support for continued EU funding, could have a last-minute change of heart before the meeting on Monday of European science ministers in Brussels.

“Germany is doing a lot of [lobbying] work,” said one EU diplomat on Sunday. “It is very difficult to know the exact situation. There are many question marks over the meeting.”

Germany and Poland are joined by Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Malta and Luxembourg in questioning the extent of future EU-backed experiments.

If the majority of the EU’s 25 members agree on fresh funding, EU-backed experiments would continue until 2014 under a new European research budget. Under the European Commission proposal, EU-funded research would not use stem cells for reproductive cloning and would not allow the creation of human embryos solely for research.

But Germany wrote in a letter last week: “The EU science programme should not be used to give financial incentives to kill embryos. The current proposal from the European Commission and the European parliament does not rule this out.”

Martin Rees, president of Britain’s Royal Society, said: “Last week the US decided to stay in the slow lane on stem cell research, hindering the global race to develop therapies that could benefit millions of people. It now appears that some countries wish to force the EU into the slow lane alongside the US.”

Austria has also threatened to veto a related decision on European money for work on nuclear research, which could establish further doubts over the new EU research budget.