A first attempt of getting stevia green-lit in Europe was made in 1997, when a first application was handed in for the approval of stevioside and for its classification as a Novel Food. Unfortunately, the application was turned down by the European Commission in 1999, due to a lack of scientific evidence supporting the safety of stevia glycosides. Although convinced of the obvious benefits of the little green plant, the petitioners just didn't have the funds to provide the necessary information. 

Sadly,  the stevia sweetener was banned from the European market in 2000.

Stevia supporters worked hard in the following years to get all the paperwork done to prove the harmlessness of the sweet leaf. In recent years, under the supervision of Dr. Jan Geuns of the University of Leuven, Belgium, a new dossier on the safety evaluation of stevia and stevioside was put up by the European Stevia Association (EUSTAS), and sent to EFSA. Finally, the application was approved in April of 2010, thus effectively welcoming the stevia sweetener on the European marketplace.

Let's look at a paraphrase of some of the findings of the panel:
   

• No accumulation of steviol glycoside derivatives occurs in the body. They're either completely absorbed, or leave the body through urine.   
• The results of toxicological testing indicated that steviol glycosides are not genotoxic, carcinogenic, nor associated with any reproductive/developmental toxicity.   
• Single doses of 1000 mg steviol glycosides/person/day did not affect glucose homeostasis and did not affect blood pressure in individuals with normal glucose tolerance or type-2 diabetes mellitus.   
• After considering all the data on stability, degradation products, metabolism and toxicology, the Panel establishes an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for steviol glycosides, expressed as steviol equivalents, of 4 mg/kg bw/day.