Brussels, 18/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - In Strasbourg on Thursday 17 February, a number of members of the European Parliament criticised the composition of the expert groups which advise the European Commission. They believe that currently, many of the expert groups have an imbalance in their composition which is weighted in favour of the business world as a whole.
Those responsible for the oral question on this sensitive topic of the composition of the expert groups, Corinne Lepage, Diana Wallis and Frédérique Ries on behalf of the ALDE Group, plus Cornelis de Jong (for the GUE/NGL Group), Michael Cashman (of the S&D Group), Pascal Canfin (Greens/EFA) and Monica Luisa Macovei (EPP), called on the Commission to ensure a “better balanced” composition of the expert groups, by means of measures to encourage SMEs or civil society to get involved in these groups. They also criticised the Commission for failing to consult the Parliament before taking a definitive decision (in November 2010) on the revised framework of the expert groups, even though “transparency has become a subject of the shared concern of the Commission and the Parliament”.
Certain MEPs, such as Véronique Mathieu (EPP), also called for all working documents, acts and meeting agendas to be published, so that the general public and MEPs can consult them. She added: “The opacity of the work of the expert groups cannot lead to reliable results and I am thinking in particular of the expert groups of DG SANCO”.
Pascal Canfin referred to the expert group in the field of banking. “95% of the members of this expert group are bankers, and not just any bankers, solely bankers from the finance and investment banking and retail banking fields and all the major American banks -J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs -are represented”. To counterbalance this, there are no NGOs, there are no unions in this expert group. The idea that the Commission takes its advice solely from business bankers, in particular American business bankers, to change the banking rules, “seems to me to be completely surreal after the financial crisis we have just experienced”. He asked the Commission if it intended to “change the composition of these expert groups” or act to avoid “conflicts of interest”.
Corinne Lepage describes the composition of these groups as “highly imbalanced”: many large businesses, very few SMEs, mainly the industrial sector and no civil society. “However, the influence of the groups obviously has an impact on the decisions the Commission takes, as it bases itself on the experts' reports.”
On behalf of the European Commission, European Commissioner Siim Kallas “noted” the suggestions to improve the transparency regarding these advisers and said that nobody should “underestimate the path we have taken”. A number of measures have been taken since 2005 to correct problems: the composition of the groups and the names of the experts are available on the internet, a new version of the register was published in December 2010 for greater transparency (on composition and selection procedures) and a great deal of information is available to verify the influence of the individual experts. Siim Kallas called on the EP not to “mystify” the experts. “There is no arithmetical link between the composition of expert groups and a decision. The decision is the Commission's political responsibility”.
Kallas went on to point out that the experts do not always agree among themselves, such as on the issue of GMOs, or withdrawing aid to European tobacco producers. He went on to say that certain expert groups have been removed, as they were unable to provide the expected advice. (L.C./transl.fl)