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What Role – if any – for a Chief Scientist in the European Union System for Scientific Advice?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alberto Alemanno
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Abstract

At a time of increasing recognition worldwide of the role of Chief Science Advisers as of critical importance in improving dialogue between science and policy, the European Union, notably the European Commission, is currently considering – under the pressure of civil society organisations – whether to maintain or scrap this recently–created position. After contextualizing this debate within the broader efforts undertaken by the Barroso Commission to strengthen science in EU policymaking, this article discusses what role, if any, a Chief Scientist may play within the EU systemof scientific advice. After denouncing the lack of a public debate about the merits of this post at the time of its creation, the article takes as a point of departure the criticisms made against this position and assesses them in the light of the mandate entrusted to the Chief Scientist Advisor. It argues that the major point of disagreement on this post revolves around the question of whether the Chief Scientist Advisor, as it currently stands, helps or hinders the EU incorporating the ‘best science’ into policy. After identifying the flaws of the actual mandate and the challenges faced by the first holder of the position, it argues that the burden of proof rests with the EU Commission to prove the merits, and more specifically, the rationale for having yet another source of scientific advice in the EU.

Type
Symposium on the EU's Chief Scientific Advisor
Information
European Journal of Risk Regulation , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , September 2014 , pp. 286 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014

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References

1 The long list of food safety crises and scandals of that time includes olive oil, contaminated wine, E.coli listeria, salmonella, polluted drinking water, animal feed, pesticides, etc.

2 Although this notion is often used in EU policy documents, it is not defined anywhere. It however raises a lot of complex questions that go to the heart of what science and regulatory science should be.

3 B. Ballantine, Enhancing the Role of Science in the Decisionmaking of the European Union, EPC, 2005. Available at <http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/futurium/en/content/enhancing-role-science-decision-making-european-union.>

4 Appointment of Chief Scientific Advisor, 5 December 2011, Europa Press Release, available at <http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-1497_en.htm.>

5 See, e.g., P. Gluckman, “The art of science advice to government”, Nature, 507, 13 March 2014; Bijker, Wiebe E., Bal, R. and Hendricks, R., The Paradox of Scientific Authority : The Role of Scientific Advice in Democracies (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013)Google Scholar; Jasanoff, S., Designs on Nature: Science and Democracy in Europe and the United States (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 The members of the task force in charge of drafting the ECP report represented all the EU major industries, such as tobacco, pharma, biotech, medical devices and consumer products. See, B. Ballantine, “Enhancing the Role of Science in the Decisionmaking of the European Union”, EPC, 2005, p. 4.

7 The Risk Monger, In Praise of Anne Glover, Euractiv, 25 August 2014, <http://risk-monger.blogactiv.eu/2014/08/25/in-praise-of-anne-glover/#.VEt0npUh5UQ.>

8 You may notice the significant parallels existing between this newly established space and the risk governance model called for Marie–Valentin Florin in her contribution and drawing on Ortwin Renn's scholarship. This is further confirmed by the membership of Professor Renn, a sociologist, of the Science and Technology Advisory Council.

9 Its members have been selected by the President in consultation with the Chief Scientific Adviser, based on their scientific reputation, experience at the science–policy interface and communication skills. The declared mission of the Council is to provide advice directly to the President on how to create the proper environment for innovation by shaping a European society that embraces science, technology and engineering.

10 Letter signed by Greenpeace, Heal, Test Biotech, RES, Corporate Observatory Europe, Pesticide Action Network, EarthOpenSource, Sciences Citoyennes and send to President-elect Juncker on July 22, 2014, available at <http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/ngo_letter_on_chief_scientific_adviser_-_final.pdf.> The publication of this letter was in turn prompted by BUSINESSEUROPE President's letter (Emma Marcegaglia) addressed to José Manuel Barroso, “Science, governance and a stronger European Union: a strengthened role for the Chief Scientific Advisor”, available at <http://www.businesseurope.eu/content/default.asp?PageID=568&DocID=33005.>

11 Email to Professor Glover by Jorgo Riss, GreenPeace Europe, September 23 2014 (on file with the author).

12 Letter from BUSINESSEUROPE President by Emma Marcegaglia to José Manuel Barroso, Science, governance and a stronger European Union: a strengthened role for the Chief Scientific Advisor, available at <http://www.businesseurope.eu/content/default.asp?PageID=568&DocID=33005.>

13 This request largely reflects the original proposal for the creation of a CSA by the EPC's 2005 report.

14 Letter of 19 August 2014, available at <http://corporateeurope.org/sites/default/files/attachments/ngo_letter_on_chief_scientific_adviser_-_final.pdf.>

15 See, e.g., Top scientists criticise move to axe scientific adviser to European Commission, BMJ 2014; 349 doi: <http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.g4866.>

16 See, e.g., the responses by Greenpeace, <http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/blog/beware-the-omniscient-scientific-adviser/blog/50017/>; The Cancer Prevention & Education Society <http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g4866/rr/761980>; Corporate European Observatory, <http://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2014/08/chief-scientific-adviser-remarks-problematic-position-and-suggestion-sense.>

17 See <http://www.euractiv.com/sections/science-policymaking/glover-eu-chief-scientist-should-stay-shadows-307768.> 18 Brandeis made his famous statement that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” in a 1913 Harper's Weekly article, entitled ‘What Publicity Can Do. 19 Article 15 TFEU.