Conclusion:The Contestation of Expertise in the EU

Bringing together the main insights of the book, this concluding chapter restates the relevance of understanding contestation of expertise in the EU. The chapter shows the main patterns and the consequences of contestation of expertise drawing from the different contributions in this book. The chapter is also forward looking by presenting how we need to re-think the role of expertise in the ‘post-factual’ world. We present four scenarios for future developments and acknowledge that regardless of which direction the EU is headed in the longer term, at present the European Union will have to adapt to the reality of a system in which scientific expertise remains both essential and contested in its contribution to public policy-making. What remains certain is that the contestation of expertise will continue to be a feature of European Union politics and jurisprudence in the 2020s