Independence and ethics in the ethics screening of research proposals for European Commission funding

The second of two independent opinions on the ethics screening of research for European Commission funding, written in a personal capacity by a member and co-rapporteur of the panels and submitted to the European Commission on 28 July 2026. It concerns the internal dimension of ethics in screening: the conditions under which reflection and conscience can be exercised within a panel; the independence of the panel and the manner of its chairing; and the room that must be kept for dissent and for the simpler act of withholding. It closes with twenty-one proposals. Part II of the collection What the law leaves to ethics.This opinion was submitted to the European Commission on 28 July 2026 and is deposited as delivered. It was prepared under the author's direction; any AI assistance was used as a tool under that direction, and the author takes full responsibility for the work. [Confirm the opinion's own AI statement if it differs from this.] A structured statement is deposited with the record as a machine-readable object.A GCPA-SIDCER community contribution, archived as delivered; not part of the SPEC series.