Risk Analysis in EU Policy Making and Regulation by Bernardo Delogu
Three types of risk
The author presents a number of concepts and methods of risk analysis that are most relevant to the development and application of EU risk policies and legal measures. It focuses on three types of risks: health risks, safety risks and environmental risks.
Throughout Risk Analysis in EU Policy Making and Regulation, the author starts with the concept of risk and risk analysis, and continues with the treatment of risk management, risk communication and ultimately risk governance. The book concludes with a summary chapter of the most important issues.
Most important aspects of this work
But what are the issues that, in addition to a lot of things that are a good principle applied to policy, were the most important aspects of this work?
Firstly, there are the risk management principles and criteria that the EU uses as a regulatory body. The first is the prudence principle (PP: precautionary principle). A second is the subsidiarity principle. The third is the proportionality principle. Each of these principles must always be justified. For example, one cannot approve excessive irresponsible caution.
Other points are the risk-risk evaluation, the cost-benefit evaluation and the difference between hazards and risks. This book explains the latter best up to now. Hazard is a property of e.g. a material or a being “in itself” while a risk is a threat in which one takes the environmental situation into account. For example a cheese Camembert and the listeria bacteria. The listeria bacteria itself is a life-threatening bacterium. In an ‘environment’ of camembert, however, she is not risky for people. (https://www.nieuwsblad.be/cnt/goledsud)
Furthermore, the relationship with stakeholders is very important for the EU. In doing so, they apply the principles of participation, openness and liability, effectiveness and ensuring systematic consultation processes across EU services, including evaluations and quality control.
Most important message
The most important message that other governments and managers of companies draw from the book is that without the policy makers one cannot and should not do scientific research on the risks . Although the scientists need to be able to do their work independently of political preferences and accompanying preconditions, it is important that they share the results with politics so that they can add values other than scientific correctness, without, however, going against the principle of prudence. The policymaker must also be able to accept that science does not always give the desired answer, or even has an unambiguous answer. Everyone, the scientists, the risk managers and the decision makers, must know their own role and that of the others.