A delegation of Parliament’s special PEST committee, responsible for shedding full light on the procedure for pesticide authorisation in the EU, will be on a fact-finding mission to the seat of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), in Parma, on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 May. Its aim is to advance its work ahead of its next meeting, the third of its kind, in Brussels on 15 May (3.00pm-6.30pm) (see EUROPE 12010).
The meeting will be devoted to hearing a representative of the German federal institution for risk assessment (BfR) (Germany having been the rapporteur member state during risk assessment for glyphosate in the EU), as well as a representative of the pesticide industry, European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), and two research workers.
In Parma, the delegation headed by PEST Chairman Eric Andrieu (S&D, France) will meet with EFSA’s Executive Director Bernhard Url, who was heard by MEPs on 12 April, and EFSA scientific staff.
They will hold further discussions on European pesticide risk assessment in the food chain, the peer-review process in pesticide evaluations, and ongoing developments such as the forthcoming decision to place an almost total ban on the three most dangerous bee killing neonicotinoid pesticides (see EUROPE 12011).
The delegation will include: Norbert Lins (EPP co-rapporteur, Germany), Miroslav Mikolasik (EPP, Slovakia), Arne Gericke (ECR, Germany), Bart Staes (Greens/EFA, Belgium) and Simona Bonafé (S&D, Italy). The EFSA is located in Italy. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)