Brussels, 25/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, Executive Director of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) since 2006, resigned on Wednesday 24 July to take up a new post as director general for agricultural, agri-food and territorial policies at the French Agriculture Ministry on 1 September. On 25 July, the European Commission announced that it would initiate the process for recruitment of a new permanent executive director. This process is time-consuming so Bernard Url, currently head of the risk assessment and scientific assistance directorate at EFSA, will act as executive director from 1 September until the EFSA board decides on a replacement in October, explained Sue Davis, chair of the EFSA management board.
On 24 July, Davis said: “On behalf of the management board, I would like to thank Catherine for the enormous contribution she has made to EFSA's work over the last seven years. (...) Catherine has also been very committed to improving EFSA's efficiency and enhancing its processes to ensure that it operates openly, transparently and independently. (...) The Management Board's priority is now to ensure business continuity and to limit any disruption to EFSA's staff, experts and outputs”.
Similar comments were made by EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg, who said that under Geslain-Lanéelle's management, EFSA's role as an independent risk assessor for food and feed safety has achieved international recognition. He said that EFSA produces some 700 scientific contributions a year. Geslain-Lanéelle had, he stated, improved the organisation and achieved a high degree of independence while ensuring high quality scientific expertise. He thanked her for her professionalism and devotion to the common objective of ensuring high levels of food safety and health protection in Europe.
The appointment procedure for Geslain-Lanéelle's replacement will be launched with a call for applications published in the EU's Official Journal. A shortlist of candidates will be published by the European Commission and submitted to the EFSA management board. The executive director will be appointed by the management board from the Commission's shortlist following a hearing at the European Parliament. EFSA's executive directors are appointed for a renewable five-year term of office. Geslain-Lanéelle's term of office was renewed on 1 July 2011. Strongly criticised for conflicts of interest, EFSA published a new policy in January 2012 on independence and decision-making to restore credibility, as required by the European Ombudsman (see EUROPE 10538). (AN/transl.fl)