Food Safety in Europe

As a part of this, scientists from all European countries contribute to the preparation of scientific opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). EFSA also has collaboration agreements with food safety authorities in the European states wishing to join the EU.

Membership spans more than 1,707,787 square miles of land across the European continent. The EU includes more than 500 million people, which accounts for approximately 7.3 percent of the world’s population.

The EU was established in order to facilitate economic and social development, protect the freedoms and rights of all of its members, and to help promote European identity on an international level. In an attempt to further promote these objectives, the EU has established a single currency, known as the euro, and designated with the symbol €.

The area of the continent that uses the euro is known as the eurozone, which currently consists of 19 countries states that use the euro as their legal tender. The only EU members that are not legally obligated to join the eurozone are Denmark and the U.K.

Eurozone member states need a popular mandate for joining. The U.K. chose to keep its pound; Sweden retained its krona, rejecting the euro in a referendum. Other countries are not yet ready, or are reluctant to join.

Eurozone member states need a popular mandate for joining. The U.K. chose to keep its pound; Sweden retained its krona, rejecting the euro in a referendum. Other countries are not yet ready, or are reluctant to join.

Countries must also satisfy Euro convergence criteria:

• Price stability, to show inflation is controlled;
• Soundness and sustainability of public finances, through limits on government borrowing and national debt to avoid excessive deficit;
• Exchange-rate stability, through participation in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II) for at least two years without strong deviations from the ERM II central rate;
• Long-term interest rates, to assess the durability of the convergence achieved by fulfilling the other criteria; and
• Independent national central banks.

Some of the explanation for the Euro crisis in the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) countries was that these criteria were not complied with due to political expediency and wishes, according to Ivar Vågsholm, DVM, PhD, a professor of food safety in the Department of Biomedicine and Veterinary Public Health at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

The Eurozone was created to lessen the number of problems with associated with exchange rates, interest rates, price stability, and to help make it easier for traveling citizens. All of the banks and financial institutions in the eurozone are under the direction and control of the European Central Bank, the main bank of the eurozone.

The EU has developed a single market through a standardized system of laws that apply in all member states. Within what is known as the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. To its shared benefit, the EU aims to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development.

The European Commission (EC) is the executive body of the EU responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties, and managing the day-to-day business of the EU.

The Commission operates as a cabinet government, with 28 members of the Commission (informally known as “commissioners”). There is one member per member state, though members are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the commission president, currently Jean-Claude Juncker, who was proposed by the European Council and elected by the European Parliament. The Council then appoints the other 27 members of the Commission in agreement with the nominated president, and then the 28 members as a single body are subject to a vote of approval by the European Parliament.