Finally, a home for EFSA
safety agency finally has a permanent home in the city of Parma,
after Italy successfully fought off a strong bid from Helsinki. The
imminent challenge for the food agency will be to ensure that
expert opinions from food safety assessments are efficiently
communicated to the Commission and Parliament.
The decision taken by European leaders this weekend in Brussels ends nearly two years of temporary housing in Brussels for the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA).
Almost at the close of Italy's tenure holding Council Presidency of the EU, Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi managed to squeeze in the location of the ESFA onto the agenda.
A political move that has wrought criticism from Finland. "It is a remarkable political manoeuvre,since it succeeded to completely turn around the opinion of 14 member stateswhich were willing to give EFSA to Finland only two years ago," Veli-Pekka Talvela, director general of the Finnish ministry of agriculture and forestry, and involved in lobbying Helsinki for the EFSA location, told FoodNavigator.com.
"Finland always held the opinion that it is of primary importance to take the final decision on the location of EFSA so that it can continue its valuable work without further disturbance. National interests should come only second tothis," he added.
That is why Finland strongly resisted the earlier Italian proposal to split EFSA between Helsinki and Parma. This is also why Finland chose not to follow suite and block the decision-making procedure, he said.
The decision to locate EFSA - an independent scientific advisory body - some distance from Brussels has raised eyebrows because it means that in practical terms the scientists involved in assessing the safety of foodstuffs are far from the risk 'managers' , Commission and the Parliament - a situation that could lead to a breakdown in communications.
"Despite the fact that the EU Council has decided on Parma, I would hope that EFSA keeps a strong presence in Brussels," Raymond O'Rourke, food lawyer, told FoodNavigator.com.
"Rather than going lock, stock and barrel to Parma, EFSA needs to be close to the risk managers," he added.
Brushing aside such criticisms, and preferring not to comment on them, EFSA was upbeat about the ministers move. "We are very happy with the decision - now we can move to a permanent location and get a steady pace going," a spokesman for EFSA said to FoodNavigator.com.
EFSA has already employed some 70 staff in their temporary offices in Brussels, but full recruitment was blocked by a lack of permanent location. The decision at the weekend by the Council means that full staffing can go ahead. "By the end of 2005 we are aiming for 200-300 people," said the EFSA spokesman.
Observers could be surprised by the decision for Parma. Not least because the Presidency role is one of game master, and not of player.
Coming to the end of the six month slot, it was widely expected that the decision on the EFSA location would be passed on to Ireland's agenda during the next Presidency - although expected to be taken up by discussions over the new European Constitution - and if not, after this The Netherlands.
"If it had gone over and past the Irish Presidency, Hungary would have got the EFSA location," said Raymond O'Rourke.
Helsinki and Parma have spent the last 18 months fighting their corners. With a strong food culture - Parma is home to some 8,000 food-related businesses and farms producing an annual turnover of around €5.5 billion - the city strongly believed in its validity as the location for Europe's first food agency.
But the Finnish director general at the ministry of agriculture showed fair play. "I wish to congratulate Parma for the decision of the European Council. I look forward to the Italian government and the city of Parma living up to the expectations and providing EFSA with good working conditions without delay," said Talvela.
The timescale has yet to be decided for the move although 'certainly not within the next twelve months,' said EFSA yesterday. But once installed in Parma, Geoffrey Podger, executive director of EFSA, will have two key tasks. Firstly, to ensure that risk communication from EFSA to the risk managers in Brussels continues to flow steadily and efficiently, and secondly, to convince critics that Europe's first food safety agency will not disappear into the shadows once established several hundred kilometres from Brussels.
For Veli-Pekka Talvela there is a further concern: "I believe that the numerous experts that visit EFSA from other member states would appreciate it if Parma could step up its traffic connections so that it could be directly accessible from other capitals," he commented.
