Brussels, 04/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Representatives of Member States with the EU (Coreper) unanimously agreed on the composition of the administrative board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A list of 14 candidates (out of the 30 suggested by the European Commission) was finally decided, after the United Kingdom (especially) and Italy had lifted their reservation on the subject of there not being many consumer associations on the Board, but at the price of a compromise from the Spanish Presidency which does not satisfy the European consumer representatives, such as Euro Coop (European Community of Consumer Cooperatives). The latter considers that consumers are greatly "wronged" by Coreper's decision, which reserves two seats for farmers' representatives, two seats for representatives of industry, a seat for representatives of distributors but only one seat for representatives of consumer associations.
The 14 members of the EFSA administrative board will be appointed for terms of 6 or 4 years. The members that will exercise their functions from 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2008 are: Giorgio Calabrese (University Professor, Italy); - Catherine Geslain-Laneelle (Director General at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries); - Horst Matthias Ludwig (Director General of the Federal Association of the German Agri-Food Industries); - Deirdre Hutton (President of the National Consumer Council, UK); - João Pedro Machado (President of the Confederation of Farmers, Portugal); - Pirkko Marjatta Raumenaa (Finland); - and Patrick Gérard Wall (Director General of the Food Safety Authority, Ireland).
The seven others that will hold office for 4 years (1 July 2002 to 30 June 2006) are: - Angeliki Assimakopoulou (former Director General of the Greek State Chemical Laboratory); - Ernst Bobeck (Federal Ministry of Social Security, Austria); - Roland Vaxelaire (Managing Director of the Carrefour retail company, Belgium); - Carlos Escribano Mora (Director General for stock farming at the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture); - Peter Gaemelke (Praesidium of the Agriculture Council, Denmark); - Bart Sangster (Unilever Vice-President, NL); - and Alexander Stuart Slorach (Deputy Director General of the National Food Administration, Sweden).
The above list has still to be adopted (without debate) by the Council, during a forthcoming meeting (probably during the Ecofin Council on 12 July).