On discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2022

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety calls on the Committee on Budgetary Control, as the committee responsible, to incorporate the following suggestions into its motion for a resolution:

1.Welcomes the European Food Safety Authority's ('EFSA's') contribution to the safety of the Union food and feed chain, and its considerable efforts in providing risk managers with comprehensive, independent and up-to-date scientific advice on questions linked to the food chain, communicating clearly to the public on its outputs and the information on which they are based, and cooperating with interested parties and institutional partners to promote coherence and trust in the food safety system;

2.Notes that EFSA's final budget for 2022 was EUR 149,76 million representing an increase of 16 % compared to 2021; notes that the budget monitoring efforts during 2022 resulted in an implementation rate of 100 % for commitment appropriations and 90 % for payment appropriations;

3.Notes that the 2022 has been the first year of implementation of the Strategy 2027, focused on the implementation of the Transparency Regulation in the short term and on addressing new evolving EU policies, such as the Farm to Fork Strategy, in the longer term; notes that the implementation of the Transparency Regulation induced considerable investment in terms of organisational changes, including the development of new processes, a reviewed organisational design and the leveraging of EFSA’s technology and information management capabilities;

4.Highlights the fact that, in 2022, the Authority finalised 586 questions through scientific opinions, technical reports and supporting publications, 118 fewer than the questions finalised in 2021 and 115 less than the initial plan of 701;

5.Notes that, according to the Annual Strategy Survey launched by EFSA asking for feedback from its customers, partners, and stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in the delivery of EFSA’s scientific opinions, EFSA’s ability to provide its advice in a timely manner remains a point of attention;

6.Deplores the long delay on the safety assessments of sweeteners due to be completed in 2020 and the inaccessibility of documents and processes to the external interested audience; highlights the new and relevant evidence on negative health effects of aspartame since the 2013 opinion of EFSA, notably the classification of aspartame (E961) as a possible group 2B human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC); therefore calls EFSA to review the safety of aspartame by 31 December 2024;

7.Notes that EFSA has been given 31 new staff posts for the implementation of the new Transparency Regulation as well as 15 additional CAs, reaching a total capacity of 572 statutory staff posts; notes that 571 of the available 587 posts were occupied (including officials, temporary agents, contract agents and seconded national experts) on 31 December 2022;

8.Notes that a lack of resources and post for plant protection products regulatory authorities results in delays in approving low risk active substances and updating assessment methodologies according to scientific developments, which would lower the environmental impact of plant protection products in the long term; calls on the Commission to take appropriate steps to ensure that EFSA has sufficient resources and posts to support Member States to meet their deadlines as set in Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009, to double the amount of assessments of active substances for plant protection products per year and to triple the speed of development of methodologies to keep risk assessments abreast of the latest scientific developments and societal expectations;

9.Welcomes EFSA's intention to strengthen joint data management with Member States and other agencies in order to improve data quality and interoperability (in line with the One Health approach);

10.Welcomes the fact that EFSA, in cooperation with ECHA, has taken steps to promote the 'one substance - one assessment' principle to ensure greater consistency in the hazard and risk assessment of active substances;

11.Recommends, based on the facts available, that discharge be granted to the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2022 if commitments are given in terms of independence policy and management of conflict of interests.