LONDON, Nov 17 (APM) - The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday could not confirm for how long the agency would be without an executive director following the annulment of Guido Rasi’s position by a tribunal court, although the process to select Rasi took 21 months.
A spokesperson at the EMA told APM the agency would not comment on any questions regarding plans to fill the executive director position. From court documents outlining the course events for Rasi’s appointment, the process took one year and nine months.
The agency announced in a late Friday statement that the European Union Civil Service Tribunal judged that the EMA and the European Commission did not follow procedure protocol when they appointed Rasi in 2011 to the top job, therefore his position was annulled. (APMMA 40451)
The EMA said it is taking legal advice, together with the European Commission, on its next steps. The spokesperson could not expand upon what legal action it was considering, if any.
The court judged that the EMA’s appointment of Rasi be annulled after concluding the agency did not follow the founding administrative law: Regulation (EC) 726/2004, which states the management board can only select from candidates shortlisted by the European Commission.
Article 64 of the regulation states: “The executive director shall be appointed by the management board, on a proposal from the commission, for a period of five years on the basis of a list of candidates proposed by the (European) commission following a call for expressions of interest published in the Official Journal of the European Union and elsewhere.
“Before appointment, the candidate nominated by the management board shall be invited forthwith to make a statement to the European Parliament and to answer any questions put by its members. His mandate may be renewed once. The management board may, upon a proposal from the commission, remove the executive director from his post.”
The challenge over non-compliance with further details under this regulation came from Dr Emil Hristov, executive director at the Bulgarian Drug Agency (BDA), whose name was not put forward for the position, despite expressing an interest and undergoing interview. Hristov has been head of Bulgaria’s drugs agency for at least six years and was a member of the EMA’s board from Jan 2007 until April 2009.
According to court documents, Hristov was shortlisted for interview by the selection committee among eight other candidates. They were marked out of 100 for based on their interview performance; Hristov scored the lowest with 61 out of 100, the court document said.
The four best candidates were then recommended by the screening committee to the EMA board of directors for consideration.
The court document states that, while it is the screening committee’s responsibility to identify the most qualified candidates and send a draft list forward, it should also send “a comprehensive report containing information about each interview, a qualitative assessment of all applicants, whether or not interviewed, and a draft list of candidates deemed most qualified”.
The court document states: “It is therefore clear … the board of directors of the EMA can choose the executive director among the candidates proposed by the commission.”
It goes on to say, in this case, the “decision of the commission … adopting a list of four candidates to recommend to the board of the EMA, which set the position of the commission and supervised freedom choice of the board of the EMA in that it definitively excluded the applicant from participation in the following stages of the selection process … (was) an act adversely affecting the applicant.”
Hristov also claimed compensation - payment for damages and for “moral injury”. The court concluded that for non-pecuniary damage the applicant may have suffered because of the illegality of the EMA and European Commission’s decisions would be “adequately compensated and sufficient by cancelling them”.
It ruled in favour that, of the applicant’s costs to be paid for by the EMA and the commission.
While the regulation states it is the management board’s duty to “adopt the executive director”, there is no time schedule set out within the regulation for the completion of this process.
From court documents, the process to appoint Rasi took one year and nine months. The position was first advertised in the Official Journal on Jan 15, 2010 and Rasi was appointed on Oct 6, 2011.
The EMA’s deputy executive director Andreas Pott, who has worked at the agency since 2000, will fill the role of executive director in absence of a permanent leader.
Since 2000, the German has been head of administration and was executive director (ad interim) in 2011 until the arrival of Guido Rasi. He was appointed deputy executive director in late 2011.
Pott has also held leading roles in human resources and information and communications technology at the EMA.
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