EFSA pushes cooperation forward through first Focal Point meeting in pre-accession country

The 39^th meeting of EFSA’s Focal Point network will take place on 22-23 May 2019 in Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina. This is the first time that Member States have met in a pre-accession country.

At a workshop the day before the meeting, participants will learn how to apply to the European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST) programme and discuss joint initiatives and partnerships.

“We see ourselves, EFSA, as a cooperation broker,” said EFSA’s Executive Director, Bernhard Url. “This workshop and similar initiatives that will follow are intended to enable knowledge transfer. I hope they will lead to the creation of new forms of cooperation among Member States and pre-accession countries”.

What is the Focal point network?

The Focal Point network comprises members from all 28 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway and observers from Switzerland and pre-accession countries. It promotes information exchange, networking and engagement, and plays an important role in building EU risk assessment  A specialised field of applied science that involves reviewing scientific data and studies in order to evaluate risks associated with certain hazards. It involves four steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation. capacity and increasing the outreach of the scientific work carried out by EFSA and Member States.

Agenda items of the meeting include cooperation between Member States and pre-accession countries, explanation of the Focal Point tasks, a training on EFSA’s grants and procurement.

EU enlargement

Pre-accession countries currently include: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.