Health protection papers will now land on the already cluttered desk of the fisheries and consumer rights chief
BONINO GRASPS POISONED CHALICE
Paola Buonadonna in BRUSSELS meets the commissioner with new responsibility for food safety
THE reorganisation of health protection policies ordered in the wake of the mad cow scandal is poised to turn the consumer department from the Cinderella of European Commission services into its princess.
The sweeping changes announced by President Jacques Santer will make Health Commissioner Emma Bonino, the department's head, a busier woman still.
"You can call it a promotion if you like; I call it a poisoned chalice," Bonino told The European this week.
Workaholic Bonino already looks after fisheries, humanitarian affairs and consumer rights.
"I can work 20 hours a day, but I cannot promise miracles or quick fixes," she warned.
Under the promised reorganisation, seven scientific committees which previously advised the agriculture department will have to answer to Bonino. An independent agency of European Union inspectors will also report to her.
She is one of five commissioners who will make up the "super committee" to look at the health implications of all Union policies. In short, she is at the centre of attention again and pulling no punches.
She dismissed as insignificant the Sword of Damocles posed by the suspended no-confidence vote on the Commission in the European Parliament. The motion arose over its handling of the mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) emergency. "As a former MEP I know that the Commission is under scrutiny every day and can be dismissed at any time," she said. "The deadline of November 1997 means nothing to me."
She is also, perhaps more surprisingly, critical of Parliament's approach.
"Despite the damaging conclusions of the inquiry, Parliament could not impose sanctions on Britain or the former Commission. So the present Commission is the scapegoat," she said. "That is fine by me, as long as people are aware of the background of the BSE crisis. But I cannot help wondering why MEPs did not call [former Commission president] Jacques Delors to testify."
Bonino hopes that the changes will open the door to a more considerate approach to consumer and health rights.
"None of this would have happened without BSE and the inquiry," she said. 'We now have to make a virtue out of necessity and reform the system so that similar emergencies are better dealt with in future. But I could not give you now the absolute assurance that this will be the case."
Bonino is anxious to play her cards close to her chest. The Commission is conducting an internal audit of its personnel and resources to find out how much the re-organisation will cost and how long it will take. On 2() March Bonino will meet MEPs to gather their suggestions and start a lobbying process for more funds and officials.
At the end of March she will travel to the United States to take a close look at the Food and Drugs Agency, which many consider a good model for health monitoring at European level. Back at Parliament at the beginning of April, she will present detailed budget requests to be considered by consumer affairs ministers when they meet on 20 April.
But the most significant changes promised by Santer are, according to Bonino, the more complex, institutional ones, such as the proposal before the intergovernmental conference (IGC) to make public health an EU competence, with majority voting and the participation of Parliament. "The Amsterdam treaty will be the real moment of truth," she said. "We will find out then whether health protection and consumer protection are becoming a priority or just something to be looked at in emergencies."
A change of political culture is also needed at member-state level. If the Union budget overwhelmingly favours agricultural production over consumer protection, it is simply reflecting the tendency in the majority of members.
"The long-term goal is, of course, a rethink of our common agricultural policy and of farming and food production practices," she said. "But we are talking about the allocation of billions of ecus, and you can imagine the resistance that any reform proposal would face."
Bonino makes her feelings towards Britain clear.
"Solidarity has to be a two-way street," she said. "Britain asked for EU help in dealing with cattle culling and compensation, but the Commission and other member states were caught completely unawares last March by the British government's announcement that BSE might be transmissible to humans.
"Then came the policy of noncooperation. But at least one can say that the pressure they put on us is pretty obvious and transparent. There are no secret deals."
She added that the Commission should continue to be cautious in the face of a British push for a partial lift of the export ban for BSE-free herds.
Conscious that the next food scandal could come out of the new technological food products, such as genetically modified seeds, Bonino feels that consumer concerns should be taken into account in any food or farming decision-making.
"I will have all these scientific committees under me," she said. "I will have the reports of the veterinary inspectors.
"But I do not think my role should be that of a simple postman, transferring all this paper on to other commissioners' desks. There is a need for a consumer input early on in legislation. Once the damage is done I can shout and scream all I like, but it will be difficult to reverse it."
There is little doubt that Bonino's ambition matches her working hours. Her dynamism and excellent media skills have left some of her colleagues trailing, notably Padraig Flynn, who has been almost ignored in the recent changes despite being notionally in charge of public health. That may have caused resentment but she has no time literally - to worry about it.
"I have here, now, the best chance to make consumer issues high profile at Union level for the first time ever," she said. "I simply could not turn down the offer."
She will take a sip from the poisoned chalice after all.
