On 17 November 2004, in its meeting in Strasbourg, the newly formed STOA Panel of the European Parliament, elected Phillippe Busquin as its new chairman. Mr Busquin, now a Belgian MEP from the socialist group, was the past member of the European Commission in charge of research. Malcolm Harbour, a distinguished conservative MEP from the UK, was elected Vice-chairman.

STOA is a body of the European Parliament dealing with technology assessment, and pursuing a structured dialog between scientists and policy makers. Created in the mid 80's, it has produce over 300 studies, many of them dealing with information society matters, including applications to health, education, etc. In the past legislature (1999-2004) STOA was chaired by Prof. Antonios Trakatellis, conservative MEP from Greece, a medical doctor and academic; Prof. Trakatellis has been elected Vice-President of the European Parliament in the present legislature (2004-2009).

The appointment of Mr Busquin and Mr Harbour to the offices in STOA open very promising prospects for raising the profile and influence of STOA at the service of the European Parliament.

For more information on STOA visit: www.europarl.eu.int