EFSA chairs resigns under pressure from the European Parliament on conflicts of interest

The Chair of the European Food and Safety Agency, Diána Bánáti, resigned on the 9 May 2012, upon request from the European food Satefy Agency (EFSA) and under pressure from the European Parliament not to discharge the EFSA 2010 accounts.

This comes after a few years of debates and controversies since Ms Banati works with/ or is allegedly a member of the International Life Science Institute (ILSI) [1] - which presents a clear conflict of interest with her role as Chair of the EFSA Management Board.

Ms Bánáti explained that she has decided to take up a position at ILSI. Transparency watchdogs considere this move as unacceptable as there is no cooling off period in between the two positions.

 EFSA Management Board Code of Conduct

In addition, on 27 March 2012, the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee voted to postpone the discharge of EFSA’s 2010 budget for three main reasons:

• They considered the costs of EFSA Management Board meetings as unacceptable and called for drastic cuts
• They were concerned about the conflicts of interest in the Management Board, especially of the Chair
• They also called on the EFSA to show how it has implemented the recommendations of the Court of Auditors, which audited the conflicts of interests. The recommendations were related to improving the screening of staff members and of members of its panels of scientific experts.

The final decision on the discharge of EFSA’s 2012 budget will be taken by the European Parliament during its May 2012 plenary session