Activities of Bart STAES related to 2012/2196(DEC)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2011 PDF (186 KB) DOC (106 KB)
Amendments (15)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Thinks it is noteworthy in this contextakes note that the Special Report No 15/2012 , ‘Management of Conflict of Interest in Selected EU Agencies’, by the Court of Auditors is not taking into account to the full the latest developments and improvements put in place by the Authority; therefore, notes with satisfaction the imconcludes that, despite some improvements, the management of conflict of interest situations in the Authority is still not adequate, in particular concerning the anticipation and proevement of all procedures related to transparency and possiblention of ‘revolving doors’ type of conflict of interest situations, lack of clarity of criteria for the assessment of conflicts of interests in for the Authority and will support the Ex’s scientific experts and lack of clear and objecutive Director in its further effortscriteria for laying down which circumstances lead to sanctions in cases of breach of trust;
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ...Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2011;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Urges the Authority, in particular its Executive Director, to explain, in due time before the plenary vote on its discharge for 2011, which specific measures it has taken or will take to address the problems detected by the Court of Auditors in its Special Report No 15/2012 regarding conflict of interest situations in EFSA; emphasises that discharge to the Authority may only be granted if these explanations are satisfactory;
Amendment 8 #
Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. ...Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2011;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Regrets that according to the findings of the Court of Auditors, at the time of completion of the field work (October 2011), the Authority did not adequately manage conflict of interest situations; notes, however, that the Authority had already developed advanceds started to develop policies for managing conflicts of interest;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7 a. Is concerned, however, about the fact that the Authority has not submitted a coherent plan to combat conflicts of interest in the management plan 2013, although the Court of Auditors in its special report No 15/2012 on the issue, stated that conflicts of interest in four EU agencies authorising food, medicines, chemicals and aviation security standards might be putting people's safety at risk; notes that the Court of Auditors concluded that none of the four agencies under review manage conflicts of interest adequately; notes, furthermore, that the Court of Auditors' rapporteur stated that situations of conflict of interest can occur in any workplace at any time and, if not addressed, they can affect decisions, cause reputational damage and may affect the safety and health of consumers;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)
Paragraph 7 b (new)
7 b. Welcomes the organisation of a mandatory session on ethics and integrity for all members of the Management Board in October 2012 but calls on the Management Board to enforce effectively its Code of Conduct and adopt provisions preventing and sanctioning revolving door cases in order to avoid similar situations to the one of its former Chairperson in the future;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)
Paragraph 7 c (new)
7 c. Notes that the Authority scheduled an evaluation of its independence policy by the end of 2013 and committed to consider, inter alia, the possibility to publish the outcomes of the breach of trust procedures, including the outcomes of the procedure verifying the integrity of the scientific review and to broaden and reinforce the mandate of its Committee on Conflict of Interests, for instance with a similar mandate to the Committee for Ethical Standards and Prevention of Conflict of Interest of the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES); expects the Authority to inform the discharge authority on this matter if possible before October 2013;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 d (new)
Paragraph 7 d (new)
7 d. Calls on the Authority to start a structured dialogue with civil society on matters relating to conflicts of interest and to invite those organisations concerned at least twice a year to openly discuss matters of common interest based on a agreed agenda and to inform the discharge authorities on the outcome of these deliberations; has noted that the Authority has intensified this dialogue with stakeholders and civil society, but considers that these dialogues need to be institutionalised and taken into account by the Management Board of the Authority;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8 a. Urges the Authority to keep conflict of interests high on the priority list in order to protect its credibility and to safeguard the public's trust in food safety, and to indicate, as detailed and precise as possible, how it will implement the main recommendations from the report of the Court of Auditors and the Resolution of the European Parliament; urges the Authority to consider conflict of interests with utmost care, given the start of the revision of the founding regulation, which provides an opportunity to reach the highest governance standards as described by the OECD, and which would influence positively the Authority's governance structure, independence and scientific quality; considers that the revision of the founding regulation is a major opportunity to initiate radical change at the Authority that is responsible for objective scientific advice on food and environmental safety at Union level;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8 b. Strongly suggests that in order to prevent the staff of the Authority from moving directly from their position to a post in industry or related lobby-agency, or vice versa, a cooling off period of minimum two years should be respected;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 c (new)
Paragraph 8 c (new)
8 c. Is of the opinion that candidates for scientific panels should be screened before their appointment to see if they have direct family related links to lobbyists or industry representatives or if they do any consultancy work for companies which could profit from their work;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 – subparagraph 1
Paragraph 9 – subparagraph 1
urges the Authority to report to the discharge authority on the implementation of the abovementioned policies and procedures, as well as on any further developments as regards the management of conflicts of interest before October 2013;
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes that the guidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, on which the Court of Auditors has based its work on the Special Report No 15/2012, while offering an international benchmark on the issue, are not designed for an agency, and they do not meet the specific needs of the decentralised agencies; commendendorses the Commission's intention to come up with guidelines on the management of conflicts of interest, as provided for in its ‘Roadmap on the follow-up to the Common Approach on EU decentralised agencies’;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes with satisfaction that since 2011, the Authority has introduced in its AAR a special section describing the actions taken to implement its independence policy, thus partly answering to the recommendation formulated in Parliament's resolution of 23 October 2012 on discharge to the Authority for the financial year 2010*1 ;