The European Commission is set to authorize the growing of genetically modified maize on European soil, despite 19 member states voting against the move, highlighting the “absurd” rules of weighted votes in the EU.
In a debate on Tuesday, 19 EU member states indicated that they
would vote against the authorization of genetically modified
maize because of health and environmental concerns and opposition
in the European Parliament.
But because of the so-called comitology rules of the EU, their
votes will be insufficient to overturn the decision of bigger
member states that support the introduction of insect resistant
Pioneer 1507.
The UK and Spain are both in favor of GM crops, while Germany
abstained and France is staunchly against their introduction.
European health Commissioner Tonio Borg said on Tuesday that the
commission is now legally bound to approve the crop. Borg
insisted that extensive research since 2001 had shown the crop
was safe.
Britain has argued that without GM crops, Europe risks becoming
“the museum of world farming,” and that there is a clear
scientific case for GM, while Spain has said that its farmers
need to be able to compete with non-EU nations that can grow GM
produce.
DuPont, which jointly developed Pioneer 1507 with Dow Chemical,
said in statement that the EU has a “legal obligation to
itself, to its farmers and scientists and to its trade
partners” to support the approval of new agricultural
advances.
France however warned that if the European Commission goes ahead
with the introduction of GM maize, then it risks fuelling further
euroscepticism by granting approval in the face of fierce
opposition.
“We have a majority against it, so I don’t understand how we
can approve this. Even more so ahead of EU elections. This is
dangerous to the image of the EU institutions, it will fuel the
idea that Europe doesn’t work or works badly,” said Thierry
Repentin, the French EU affairs minister.
While Thierry’s Italian colleague called the outcome
“indigestible” and his Hungarian counterpart a showcase
of the “European absurd”.
The Green group in the European Parliament has said there is now
no democratic mandate for giving the green light to GM maize.
The environmental groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have
said that Pioneer 1507 harms moths and butterflies and is
designed to be resistant to a kind of weed killer that is about
to be phased out in any case over safety concerns.
“Approval by the Commission would be irresponsible because of
the environmental risk, untenable because of widespread political
and public opposition, and legally compromised because the
Commission has forced it through without the required
consultation,” said Marco Contiero, Greenpeace’s agriculture
policy director.
But it is likely that the Commission will seek a compromise of
sorts. Borg said that it would revive a separate proposal that
would allow individual member states to ban GM crops while other
countries could approve them.
He also appeared to back down from approving the bill on
Wednesday.
“This file took thirteen years to come to fruition, I am
cautious about giving timelines,” he said.
GM crops are generally unpopular in Europe, where the public are
largely against them and environmentalists keep raising concerns
about their impact on human health and on biodiversity. They are
however, widely grown in the US and Asia despite strong
opposition from anti-GMO activists and local farmers.