Brussels, 12/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - Upstream of the review and prospects meeting to be held in Parma on 13 November by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to celebrate its 10th anniversary (see EUROPE 10723) and against a backdrop of negotiations on the draft budget 2014-2020 of the EU, José Bové (Greens/EFA France), vice-president of the committee on agriculture of the European Parliament, who will be taking part in the conference, stresses that EFSA must finally respond to the expectations of the citizens and that if it is to do so, it must be given the financial resources it needs.
“I am convinced that more than ever, we need a strong and independent supervisory agency to vouchsafe the food safety of 500 million people. With a budget of €80 million (40 eurocents a year for every European citizen), EFSA is quite simply not able to respond to all of the citizens' expectations”, he said (our translation throughout). He then clarified his view by stating: “the research policies subsidised by the European Union emphasise bio/nanotechnologies, favouring public-private partnerships, without ever questioning the point of these new technologies. At the same time, the European Commission must support EFSA in its public service mission to allow the agency to be capable of independently assessing the real impact of these new technologies on health and the environment”.
Lastly, he argues that “the European commissioners and heads of government should stop hiding behind so-called independent scientific expertise, to allow them to enshrine technologies such as GMO which the vast majority of Europeans do not want on their plate” because “in a democracy, it's the elected representatives who decide, not the experts”.
Bové, who has accepted an invitation from EFSA, will also take part in the conference in Parma on Monday 12 November by the civil society organisations. (AN/transl.fl)