Brussels, 05/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 5 May, a collective of EU watchdogs (Corporate Europe Observatory [CEO], Earth Open Source, fondation Sciences Citoyennes, GMWatch, Groupe Internationale d'Etudes transdisciplinaires [GIET] Pesticides Action Network Europe and Tesbiotech) warned EU member states that lobbyists from the agri-food industry should not have a seat on the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) management board.
In anticipation of the partial renewal of the EFSA management board planned for June, ambassadors of the EU member states (Coreper) will proceed to a vote on Wednesday 7 May on the nomination of candidates for the seven vacant posts. The EU watchdogs have complained that four of the shortlisted candidates have or have very close ties with the agri-foods industry (see EUROPE 10976). One of these candidates, Beate Kettlitz, is currently a director at FoodDrinkEurope. Jan Mousing is another candidate and as well as already being a member of the management board and prospective candidate again, is a director at the Danish Agriculture & Food Council. The watchdogs deplore the fact that these are both prospective candidates for the highest posts on the board and have the blessing of the environment, health and food safety committee at the European Parliament.
Martin Pigeon, a researcher at CEO, asserted that “EFSA's reputation is already really bad, why add to the damage? It is unlikely that appointing lobbyists, whose job is to influence food-related decisions for the private benefit of the food industry to the agency's Board is going to help the agency regain credibility”.
Bernhard Url, EFSA executive director designqte, has already announced that he will make the organisation's independence a priority. This commitment was taken on 14 April last in his hearing with MEPs on the environment, health and food safety committee at the EP. He stated that, “in 2014, EFSA does not have a problem of conflicts of interest but the problem of perceived conflicts of interest. To respond to these concerns, transparency needs to be boosted and guarantees of impartiality put in place”. While the quality of the science will be his number one priority, increasing the independence, openness and transparency of EFSA and improving the authority's communication will also be among his objectives. (AN)