2022/2104(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 d (new)

10 d. Calls on the Authority to publicly commit to carry out an independent and transparent risk assessment of glyphosate, taking into account all available scientific evidence from peer-reviewed independent literature reporting adverse effects of the substance on human health and the environment;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 e (new)

10 e. Considers that four years after the updating of the Authority’s independence policy, its limits in addressing properly the main independence loopholes have become evident; notes with concern that continuous controversies around conflicts of interest undermine the scientific reliability and credibility of the Authority; regrets that the new independence policy has not led to any tangible change in the Authority’s policy to select experts and in the working groups composition;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 f (new)

10 f. Calls for a post 5-year independent review of the Authority's independence policy and for appropriate action to be taken on the basis of the conclusions drawn; recommends in this context the evaluation of all the industrial interests (in the remit of EFSA and beyond) of board members and experts, the extension of the cooling-off period to 10 years, the implementation of the 25% threshold of tolerated research funding to expert’s all cumulated funding and for the extension of the scope of private funding to the public-private partnerships; considers the Authority’s independence policy should also apply to all hearing experts and speakers in open conferences;

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 g (new)

10 g. Calls on EFSA to ensure that all management and advisory members, their alternates and other experts have dutifully submitted the annual declarations of interest; calls on EFSA to ensure a high level of compliance with conflict of interest and transparency rules throughout all of its activities;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11

11. ~~Recommend~~Conditions, based on the facts available, th~~at discharge be granted~~e granting of discharge to the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2021 to new commitments in terms of independence policy and management of conflict of interests.

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Welcomes the fact that, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which brought with it lockdowns and the need to work remotely in 2021, the vast majority of the planned scientific outputs have been produced in full or in almost full accordance with the original organisational plan;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 b (new)

11 b. Draws attention to persistent shortcomings in the area of animal welfare, particularly, but not limited to, the transport of live animals; welcomes, in this context, the initiation of work on a major series of animal welfare mandates concerning, in particular, animal transport, which will form the foundation of new legislation being drafted in this area;

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 c (new)

11 c. Welcomes the fact that EFSA has published a scientific opinion on multiple stressors affecting honey bees, which provides an integrated framework for assessing the risks of pesticides in interaction with other stressors to honey bee colonies; points out that this opinion, requested by the European Parliament, increases knowledge in this crucial area for risk assessors and can be of major benefit to bee colonies and pollinators in general;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 d (new)

11 d. Welcomes the adoption of EFSA's new Strategy 2027, which builds on the rigorous environmental analysis carried out in 2019 and 2020 and sets out the strategic focus and ambition for the coming years in the context of EFSA's mandate and evolving EU priorities, in particular the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork Strategy;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 e (new)

11 e. Highlights EFSA's work on African swine fever (ASF), both at the scientific level, with the completion of an opinion summarising the results and evaluation factors for defining a strategy to tackle the problem, and at the communication level, with a campaign to raise awareness of this deadly viral disease affecting domestic pigs and wild boar in new EU Member States;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Recalls that on 27 March 2021, the Transparency Regulation came into effect, necessitating considerable investment for the development of new processes, the review of EFSA’s organisation design, and the leveraging of its technology and information management capabilities. draws attention in this context to the importance of maximum possible transparency in strengthening trust in EU institutions; welcomes in this context the increase in the sustainability of EFSA's activities through the broader acquisition of resources from Member States and more coordinated communication;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 f (new)

11 f. Draws attention to the pressing problem of increasing antimicrobial resistance and welcomes, in this context, the fact that EFSA, in collaboration with the ECDC, has finalised the European Union Summary Report on Antimicrobial Resistance in zoonotic and indicator bacteria from humans, animals and food i n 2018/2019, which warns that a significant proportion of Salmonella and Campylobacter are still resistant to antibiotics commonly used in humans and animals;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 11 g (new)

11 g. Welcomes the finalisation of the 2019 report on pesticide residues, which showed that 96.1% of the samples analysed did not exceed the maximum residue limits for pesticides; calls on EFSA to continue its monitoring.

Amendment 3 #

Jan HUITEMA, Ondřej KNOTEK, Martin HLAVÁČEK, Ulrike MÜLLER, Billy KELLEHER

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Highlights that the swift authorisation of sustainable feed additives and sustainable alternatives to pesticides plays an important role in reaching the ambitions of the Farm-to-Fork strategy; Stresses in that regard that sufficient capacity in terms of staff and their respective expertise is essential in order to prevent delays in application and assessment procedures for the approval of sustainable feed additives and sustainable alternatives to pesticides;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

6. Notes certain limitations in the application of the recent rules proposed by the European Commission on teleworking, which EFSA applies by analogy, in particular when it comes to partial teleworking outside the country of employment; is concerned about the fact that current limited rules on teleworking abroad ~~may~~ impact on EFSA’s attractiveness when recruiting candidates from the different EU Member States wishing to join EFSA; calls for ~~more flexibility in the application of these rules~~a review of those rules in order to allow for more flexibility, which would help increasing EFSA’s attractiveness and leading to a better nationality balance of its staff.;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Notes that the corrective actions to follow the Court of Auditors' observations of 2020 have been completed; recalls the necessity to complete the corrective actions to follow the Court of Auditors' observations of 2017, in particular to strengthen the accounting officer’s independence by making them directly responsible to EFSA’s Director;

Amendment 6 #

Catherine GRISET

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Calls on the Authority to do all in its power to conduct a thoroughgoing, comprehensive, and transparent risk assessment of glyphosate in the light of the current, well-documented scientific data;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10 a. Recalls that in 2021 the Parliament adopted six objections to the import of genetically modified crops for food and feed; highlights that one reason for these objections are gaps in the risk assessment undertaken by the Authority's Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms; urges the Authority to address and close these gaps as a matter of urgency;

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)

10 b. Recalls the judgment of the Court of Justice of 1 October 2019 in Case C- 616/17 stating that “it is the duty of the competent authorities, in particular, to take account of the most reliable scientific data available and the most recent results of international research and not to give in all cases preponderant weight to the studies provided by the applicant”;

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 c (new)

10 c. Deplores that despite Regulation 1107/2009 and Regulation 396/2005 ruling that known cumulative and synergistic effects need to be taken into account in the assessment of pesticides, the Authority still does not have an operational and science-based methodology to assess and prevent such effects; insists that the assessment of cumulative and synergistic effects must be a precondition for any pesticide approval; underlines that the protection of European citizens and the environment from cocktail effects is a core commitment of the with the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability; further stresses that the strategy proposes the establishment of a Mix Assessment Factor (MAF) as the appropriate tool to assess these effects; calls for the immediate implementation of a Mix Assessment Factor (MAF) to pesticides;

source: 740.671

2023/02/21 CONT 6 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. Recalls the importance to develop a long term HR policy on work-life balance, lifelong guidance and ~~career development, gender balance, teleworking, geographical balance and recruitment and integration of people with disabil~~the offer of specific training possibilities for career development, gender balance at all staff levels, teleworking, right to disconnect, the enhancement of a geographical balance to have an appropriate representation from all Member States, and the recruitment and integration of people with disabilities as well as the promotion of their equal treatment and their opportunities;

Amendment 2 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Notes that in 2021 the IAS issued a final report on the procurement and grant award processes in the Authority covering the years 2019-2020; notes that the IAS concluded that the governance, risk management and internal control framework set up by the Authority for its procurement and grant award processes is adequately designed, efficient and effective, therefore providing reasonable assurance that the key internal control objectives are achieved; notes that the IAS issued three important recommendations; calls on the Authority to report to the discharge authority any development in that regard; notes also that on December 2021 the Board endorsed EFSA’s Performance Framework and the organisation’s Strategic Key Performance Indicators and adopted the Programming Document 2022-2024.

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22

22. Recalls the importance to increase the digitalisation of the agency in terms of internal operation and management but also in order to speed up the digitalisation of procedures; stresses the need for the agency to continue to be proactive in this regard in order to avoid a digital gap between the agencies ~~at all costs~~; draws attention, however, to the need to take all the necessary security measures to avoid any risk to the online security of the information processed;

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23

23. Encourages the Agency to work in closely cooperation with ENISA (European Union Agency for Cybersecurity) and CERT-EU (Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU Institutions, bodies and agencies) and to carry out regular risk assessments of its IT infrastructure and to ensure regular audits and tests of its cyber defences; suggests to offer regularly updated cybersecurity- related training programmes ~~for~~to all staff members, including management, within the Agency;

Amendment 5 #

Petri SARVAMAA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24

24. Notes that in 2021 the Authority continued its activities and was able to deliver its work programme despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; notes, that the Authority suspended its staff missions, as well as physical meetings/events and gave priority to virtualisation, thus decreasing the budget in expenses in the related budget lines compared to the 2020 financial year; notes, moreover, that return to the office by staff was postponed and teleworking was promoted; encourages the Agency to make use of the lessons learned regarding staff travel, in order to better recognize meetings that are more efficient to be held remotely than in-person in the future.

Amendment 6 #