The Euro Plus Pact was developed as a complementary mechanism to support the economic governance reform program at the national level, particularly with regard to sectors, which are prerogatives of Member States. Already early on, however, it gained a rather controversial reputation.

This article argues that the current EU regulatory system in the field of food safety fails to live up to the objectives it has set for itself. The existing decision-making scheme is based on a classic risk analysis model that relies heavily on scientific risk assessment.