Parliament wants strong legislation that will stand up to industry challenge
Europe's proposed new 'opt-out' legislation allows countries to ban GM crop cultivation, though the Greens warn it may be a "slippery slope for easing EU GMO authorisations".
The proposed legislation may be welcome in countries like France or Germany, which are opposed to GM crops. But it could well be bad for England, where the Westminster government seems determined to force GM crops into the fields. Scotland and Wales retain their non-GMO cultivation policies.
If GM crops are planted in some European countries, this will inevitably result in GM contamination creeping into neighbouring countries.
Given the momentum from member states in support of the 'opt-out' legislation, however, the only way forward has been to strengthen it so that individual countries' GMO bans could stand up legally to challenge from the biotech industry and its trading partners. Now Parliament has voted for strong legislation – a welcome move which the Commission and Council should and must support.
1. EU GM crop bans: Commission and Council must heed Parliament
2. Environment Committee backs flexibility for EU countries to ban GMO crops
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1. EU GM crop bans: Commission and Council must heed Parliament
Food & Water Europe, 11 Nov 2014
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/pressreleases/eu-gm-crop-bans-commission-and-council-must-heed-parliament/
Food & Water Europe welcomed today’s vote strengthening proposed rules for national or regional bans on genetically modified (GM) crops and called on the EU Commission and Council to respect the views of the Parliament in the negotiations now triggered.
EU Food Policy Advisor Eve Mitchell said: “The Parliament has rightly rejected the totally unacceptable involvement of biotech companies in national GM policy development, and it has improved the Council’s proposal in a number of ways. The ball is now firmly in the Council and Commission courts — will they listen to the democratic representatives of EU citizens, or will they listen to biotech lobbyists?”
The discussion on so-called opt-outs, whereby an EU Member State or region can ban GM crops even if the crops are authorised by Europe as a whole, has been fraught since it began in 2009. Proposals from the Council, which have failed to gain Parliamentary approval, have been legally flawed and uncertain to give bans the sound footing needed to survive any challenge from the biotech industry or international trade partners.
The Council’s latest proposal, formally adopted by the Council in July, was seriously problematic. The Parliament’s Committee today passed a series of amendments that remove many of the most offensive issues, including the involvement of GM crop applicants in the decision to grant a ban. The Parliament also added mandatory measures to prevent GM contamination. However, complex EU operating procedures mean that these disagreements between the Council and the Parliament will now be taken up in informal talks to try to find a deal that everyone can accept. How the discrepancies will be closed is now the key issue.
Mitchell said: “There is still a long way to go, but the Parliament has once again clearly rejected the Council’s approach to this issue. We call on both the Council and the Commission to respect the Parliament’s position as a first step to securing the meaningful bans on GM crops which many citizens want urgently.
“Pro-GM governments like the UK must accept that trying to force GM crops onto an unwilling public has not worked and will not work. Citizens want protection from GM contamination, the right to make decisions without interference from vested interests and the simple right to decide what they will eat and what they reject. Talk about democracy is nice, but this is what it looks like on the ground. Unresponsive Ministers and unelected Commissioners can have a deal on GM crops if they want one, but the Parliament sets the rules.”
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2. Environment Committee backs flexibility for EU countries to ban GMO crops
European Parliament, 12 Nov 2014
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/content/20141110IPR78106/html/Environment-Committee-backs-flexibility-for-EU-countries-to-ban-GMO-crops
Long-awaited draft plans to allow EU member states to restrict, or ban, the cultivation of crops containing genetically modified organisms on their own territory even if it is allowed at EU level won the support of the Environment Committee on Tuesday.
MEPs voted to remove the Council-backed idea of a phase of negotiations with the GMO company, and supported plans to allow member states to ban GMO crops on environmental grounds.
"This vote shows we have secured a broad consensus between the political groups in the European Parliament on this sensitive issue" said Frédérique Ries (ALDE, BE) who is steering the legislation through Parliament.
"The measures approved today will secure flexibility for member states to restrict, ban the cultivation of GMO crops if they so wish. At the same time, we have secured a clear process for the authorization of GMOs at EU level, with improved safeguards and a key role for the European Food Safety Authority, which is important for us" she added.
Risk assessment and management
The approved text would entitle member states to pass legally binding acts restricting or prohibiting the cultivation of GMO crops after they have been authorised at EU level. They could also ask, when a new GMO crop is being assessed at EU level, to adjust the geographical scope of the authorisation.
Bans could be founded upon, inter alia, the aims of environmental policy, town and country planning, land use, agricultural policy, public policy, or possible socio-economic impacts. Further possible grounds should include preventing GMO contamination of other products, persistent scientific uncertainty, the development of pesticide resistance amongst weeds and pests, invasiveness, the persistence of a GMO variety in the environment or a lack of data on the potential negative impacts of a variety, MEPs say.
Case-by-case risk assessments to be carried out by the European Food Safety Authority should take account of the direct, indirect, immediate, delayed and cumulative effects of GMOs on human health and the environment, and always take account of the precautionary principle, MEPs say.
Buffer zones
Member states should also ensure that GMO crops do not contaminate other products, and particular attention should be paid to preventing cross-border contamination, for instance by implementing “buffer zones” with neighbouring countries, MEPs say.
Next steps
The committee’s second reading recommendation was approved by 53 votes to 11 with 2 abstentions. The committee also voted for the opening of negotiations (57 votes to 5 with 4 abstentions) with the Italian Presidency of the Council, which will start today.