Mella Frewen dropped from list of nominees for the board of the food-safety authority

A committee representing the EU's member states has decided not to approve the nomination of food-industry lobbyist Mella Frewen to the board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) following pressure from the European Parliament.

Frewen, currently the director-general of FoodDrinkEurope, has in the past worked as a lobbyist for US biotechnology company Monsanto. Following her nomination by the European Commission earlier this year, a group of MEPs sent a letter to member states saying that her previous and current roles constituted a conflict of interest.

Today (8 June) a member-state committee approved a list of seven nominees to serve on the board that did not include Frewen, according to an official from the EU's Council of Ministers. That list must now be approved in a final vote next Thursday.

EFSA has found itself under increasing scrutiny from the Parliament, which has placed approval of EFSA's spending in 2010 on hold until its concerns over conflicts of interest at the authority are addressed.

Last month, EFSA asked Diána Bánáti to resign as chairwoman of its board because she had accepted a post as executive director at the International Life Sciences Institute Europe (ILSI). But EFSA has maintained that it would not be possible or responsible to bar anyone with food-industry ties from serving at the authority.

Frewen said that if it is true she has been rejected from the board because of political considerations it would be very disappointing.

“It is both unfortunate and disappointing that the whole process became so politicised on a point of principle of having an industry representative as a legitimate member of the EFSA management board, as set out in the EFSA founding regulation,” she said.

But Austrian MEP Richard Seeber and German MEP Peter Liese, co-ordinators for the conservative European People's Party on the European Parliament's committee for environment, public health and food safety, welcomed the news.

“Mrs. Frewen shouldn't have been nominated in the first place since, with her being on the management board, every single decision of EFSA would have been criticised as too industry-friendly,” said the MEPs, who were signatories to the letter sent to member states. “This simply cannot be in our interest. EFSA needs to focus on its important scientific tasks and not on human-resources decisions.”

The MEPs want to see more representatives of small and medium-sized businesses on the board.

(By Dave Keating, European Voice, 08/06/2012)