Brussels, 10/05/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 May, the European Parliament decided to postpone the granting of a discharge on the execution of the 2010 budget for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), due to shortcomings in the management of conflicts of interest. The EP also postponed the discharge for the European Environment Agency (see other article on EFSA). The European Commission has emerged from the situation relatively unscathed, given that the EP granted it a discharge on the execution of the EU's general budget for 2010.
Corinne Lepage (ALDE, France) said that this “is a real victory and is the third time that I have fought for Parliament to use its power as a lever in the fight against conflicts of interest within the different agencies”. She added that in the context of the conflicts of interest at EFSA and EMA, “they are not wild allegations but are now, unfortunately, very well documented, as borne out by the resignation yesterday of Diana Banati from the post of president of the EFSA board of management, because she was a member of the board of directors for ILSI (International Life Sciences Institute), an industrial lobby”. Under pressure from MEPs and civil society, these two agencies are now making progress on the question of conflicts of interest, but each case needs to be judged on its merits and the procedures in place need to be examined. The postponed discharges provide the EP with the time to analyse the report from the European Court of Auditors on tackling conflicts of interest, which is expected out this coming June.
The European Parliament is expected to give its definitive verdict on the matter next October. The discharge could ultimately be accepted or rejected.
The Parliament approved the accounts of all the different agencies except for the European Medicines Agency in London, the European Food Safety Authority in Parma, and the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen. A vote to postpone their discharges was agreed by a very slight majority.
European Food Safety Authority. MEPs consider that the average cost of the board of directors meetings consisting of 15 members (€92,630 or €6,175 per member) are excessive and are calling for “drastic reductions” to be made. MEPs also identified conflicts of interest, with the president of the board of directors having links to the food industry.
European Medicines Agency. MEPs are calling for an action plan to improve the award and management of contracts, as well as demands for assurances governing impartiality of the agency's employees and the national experts temporarily attached to it. MEPs did not appreciate the agency's board of directors' refusal to put in place a new payment system.
Environment Agency. MEPs criticised the fact that from June 2010 to April 2011, the organisation's executive director was also a member of the international advisory committee of the Earthwatch NGO (an international environmental defence organisation). Certain members of personnel, including the executive director herself, took part in research missions in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. The agency also paid Earthwatch €33 791, according to the executive director. MEPs are calling for the agency to provide detailed information about these trips and the payments made to Earthwatch. MEPs would also like the European Environment Agency to clarify its recruitment modalities and provide more information about the references of its guest researchers. (LC/transl.fl)