The EU names scientific heavyweights to its new advisory panel

The European Commission today announced some weighty appointments to a new seven-member panel to provide it with vetted scientific advice on policy.

Taking a seat on the panel: Janusz Bujnicki, head of the laboratory of bioinformatics and protein engineering at Warsaw’s International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology; Pearl Dykstra, professor of sociology at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam; Elvira Fortunato, professor in the materials science department of the Faculty of Science and Technology at NOVA University in Lisbon; Rolf-Dieter Heuer, departing director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); Julia Slingo, chief scientist with the UK’s Met Office; Cédric Villani, director of the Henri Poincaré Institute, in Paris; and Henrik Wegener, executive vice president, chief academic officer and provost of the Technical University of Denmark.

The strong scientific reputations of the nominees underscore the prominence the new group is being given in Brussels – and belie some of the sarcastic comments around Brussels in recent weeks that the seven members would merely be “seven dwarves”, serving at the political whim of the Eurocrats who appointed them.

In fact, so well-known are the group’s members that they may create an entirely different problem: Too much political independence, making them a target for NGOs and other lobbyists who might disagree with their positions on GMOs, stem cells, animal testing or other controversial policy topics. The Commission’s prior Chief Scientific Advisor (CSA), Scottish molecular biologist Anne Glover, operated on her own rather than in a panel, and was not re-appointed last year following a very public dispute with anti-GMO lobbyists.

Sweetness and light – today

For now, though, the tone in Brussels was upbeat. "I am delighted that the Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM) announced by President Juncker just a few months ago is now up and running,” said EU Commissioner Carlos Moedas in a statement. “The support from the scientific community has been tremendous with many eminent scientists coming forward to help.

“The seven exceptional scientists I have appointed to the group will take the use of independent science advice in Commission policy making to a new level. The European Commission will rely on their independent advice on a range of complex policy issues where high-level scientific input is needed".

The expert panel will have a semi-autonomous secretariat within the Commission, and will have a more formal link to Europe’s national academies of science.

The panel will be an additional layer of science assistance for the Commission – one that is supposed to be independent of the Brussels machine, and transparent.

It will be called to gather evidence for issues that require rapid advice - the outbreak of a disease such as Ebola for instance. But it will also be consulted on longer term policy issues, such as food security and protein shortage. Members will keep their positions as independent scientists.

The members are appointed for two and a half years, renewable once. The first meeting of the group will take place in January 2016.

A €6 million budget

The departed CSA, Glover, often complained about a lack of resourcing and staff. The new panel, by comparison, will have access to staff and up to €6 million to facilitate contacts and exchange of information with external academies.

A total of 162 nominations were received from 74 organisations. A three-person scouting team – the chair of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences Rianne Letschert; former Justice Commissioner António Vitorino; the UK special representative for climate change David King – filtered the submissions and proposed a shortlist to Moedas at the end of October. Reportedly, the committee also drew up a reserve list of five candidates, should it become necessary to replace anyone.

The Commission already draws internal guidance from the Joint Research Centre (JRC), which provides scientific expertise to support EU policy development. Earlier this year Moedas said the new panel will not try to “replicate or duplicate” the work of the JRC. Rather, the panel will be selective in its focus, avoiding overlaps with the JRC’s varied skillset, where scientists look at everything from disaster forecasting and assessment, to monitoring the way farmers grow their crops.

In January, Juncker handed responsibility for replacing Glover to Moedas, asking the Commissioner “to reflect and present options to me before the summer.”

The new panel is considered a way of shutting the lid on political quarrelling in Brussels over who should provide science advice to the Commission. The problem crops up repeatedly in arguments over genetically modified organisms, stem cell research, shale gas and other issues where opponents accuse each other of distorting the scientific facts to argue their point – and then accuse the Commission of listening to the wrong scientists when making its decisions.

Things came to a head last year, when ex-CSA Glover was accused by environmental activists of being cosy with pro-GMO companies. She denied it; but Juncker apparently decided it was a political fuss he did not want to run and run, and he did not renew Glover’s mandate or maintain the post of chief science adviser.

In April, António Vicente, head of Moedas’ cabinet, admitted that the scientific community’s reaction to the decision not to renew the CSA “took us by surprise. It was seen by some as a symbolic downgrading of science. But to pretend that one person was single-handedly ensuring the role of science in Europe was preposterous.”

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