9. Contesting Concentrated Scientific Power: The Case of the European Commission’s Chief Scientific Adviser

This chapter explores the public contestation of the scientific advisory institution the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) that was established by the European Commission from 2012–2014. Several non-governmental organisations collectively challenged the legitimacy of the position by pointing to two problematic issues: first, the concentration of power in a single adviser to deliver policy advice to the Commission President, and second, the lack of transparency on the contents, documentation, and public disclosure of the delivered policy advice. The controversy is argued to be part of a broader trend of re-evaluating the relationship between scientific advice and policy-making, specifically on the EU’s decision-making processes about how such experts are appointed, how their advice should be used and shared with the public. As such, through investigating the public controversy of the CSA, competing perspectives on how science and policy-making nexus is understood by the European Commission and the public are revealed. This is relevant especially in light of increasing demand for democratising decision-making, and for transparency and accountability of expert advisory bodies in the EU’s policy-making infrastructure.