Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President, said he is to make changes to the EU’s policy advice service, but declined to confirm whether the new format would feature a Chief Science Adviser (CSA).
From January 2015, the Bureau for European Policy Advisors (BEPA) will be revamped as the European Strategic Policy Centre (ESPC).
It is unclear whether the CSA, an office which draws on BEPA for administrative support, will be retained, with Juncker’s announcement on Wednesday (5 November) making no reference to the role.
A spokesman for Juncker said the President, “values independent scientific advice” but declined to comment whether the office would remain a function of the new centre.
The current EU Chief Scientist, Anne Glover, declined to comment, telling Science|Business, “In the restructuring of BEPA to ESPC, there was no mention of the CSA role or the European Group for Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) so I have nothing to comment on.”
The role is currently in an amorphous state – in existence but not acknowledged as an official part of the Juncker Commission. A web search leads to an archived page.
Glover, a former scientific advisor to Scotland, is the European Commission’s first CSA and assumed the role in January 2012.
What changes?
The ESPC will form research clusters around five broad themes: social affairs, institutional affairs, economy, sustainable development and foreign affairs.
It has not been decided yet whether BEPA’s staff will switch to the new centre or who will head the operation.
As is currently the case with BEPA, ESPC will be directly accountable to the Commission President’s office and the service will be open to any Commissioner who requests strategic insight or long term policy advice.
Plans for re-jigging the service were first floated in May before the European elections, when Juncker was running for office.
History of the service
The lineage of the EU’s policy advice service dates back to 1989 when the then-President, Jacques Delors, created the Forward Studies Unit. Following criticism from some quarters, the Unit was re-organised in 2000.
BEPA was created in 2004 by Juncker’s predecessor, Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso tweaked the office in 2010 when he switched its focus from three areas – political, economic and societal – to two: outreach and analysis.
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