The separation of science-based risk assessment from policy-based risk management is meant to safeguard scientific autonomy whilst improving evidence-based policy-making. This risk regulation model is used in several policy domains and, especially, those targeting public health like food safety....

Lifestyle and risk — concepts that are today so commonplace and popular that we tend to take their meaning (and social history) for granted. This is a mistake since none of them are either value-free or uncontested. Bringing them together — theoretically as much as with regard to policy —...

The appraisal of large-scale transport projects cannot be relied upon. A review of the EU Cohesion Fund programme reveals that one project in four incurs costs that are 20% above budget. Deviations in cost, duration and environmental impact are especially problematic because such investments...

The food safety sector has grown extensively during the last two decades. Both in Europe and in the United States, we can observe a surge of regulatory activity on the one hand, and institutional proliferation accompanied by technological expertise for the purpose of monitoring, on the other...

Following Regulation 680/2007, otherwise known as the TEN-T Regulation, the TEN-T Programme is to be submitted to regular evaluation (article 16). A first mid-term report relating to the financial perspective 2007-2013 is due at the end of 2010 (article 19). This forms the legal and policy...

This article reviews the policy process of setting maximum levels for aflatoxins by the European Union and the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The differences between the two regulatory organizations and the difficulties entailed in the alignment of the two standards are illustrative of the...

This article uses the debates of the Working Group ‘Social Europe’ of the European Convention for the Future of the European Union that drafted the Constitutional Treaty to explore the views on the European social model among representatives of the European political class. The debates...