Brussels, 06/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - A further trialogue meeting was held in Brussels on Wednesday 6 October. The Belgian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers (represented by European Affairs Minister Olivier Chastel), European Commissioner Maroš Šefèoviè and European Parliament (EP) joint rapporteurs Alain Lamassoure, Zita Gurmai, Diana Wallis and Gerald Häfner discussed the practical details of implementing the citizens' initiative. The EP is not willing to accept the Council political agreement of June and wants to bring a number of changes to the draft regulation. MEPs want the first check of eligibility of a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) to be carried out by the Commission at as early a stage as possible, that is, once the organisers have gathered 5,000 signatures, and certainly not after 100,000 signatures from at least three different member states have been collected, as the Council suggests. The EP rapporteurs do not challenge the threshold of one million signatures but take the view that these signatures could come from a quarter (25%) or even a fifth (20%) of member states and not the one third as the Council is demanding.
Wednesday's informal trialogue did not bring any major progress, for the simple reason that the Council and Commission want to wait for the official EP position before beginning substantive negotiations. The constitutional affairs committee will only vote on the Lamassoure/Gurmai report on 30 November (with the plenary session vote taking place on 15 December). The EP and the Council are still hoping for a first reading agreement so that the regulation on the citizens' initiative can be formally adopted before the end of the year. In the meantime, the Belgian Presidency is looking to continue the informal contacts. “On the basis of the discussions with European Parliament representatives, the Belgian Presidency will now sound out the reactions of member states,” Chastel announced on Wednesday. “A more technical expert-level meeting will then be held to discuss the text in greater detail. Only after that will it be possible to organise another political meeting,” he said.
Over one million citizens call for moratorium on GM crops in EU
European citizens opposed to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have not waited for the formal adoption of the implementing regulation to put into effect the citizens' initiative. More than one million Europeans from the 27 member states have already signed a petition calling on the European Commission to declare a moratorium on GM crops in the EU until such time as risk assessment methods have been improved. The petition, launched seven months ago by NGOs Avaaz and Greenpeace, will be handed over to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in the coming weeks. Barroso was informed of this on Wednesday 6 October. “This is a massive step for European democracy,” said Avaaz Executive Director Ricken Patel. Commission spokeswoman Pia Ahrenkilde told press on Wednesday that the petition will be received “in good and due form”, but did not indicate whether Barroso would agree to receive it personally. Whatever happens, the authorisation procedures already in train for 12 GMOs will continue. “The petition will be submitted before the end of the month. We have noted this, but authorisation procedures will not change,” spokesman Frédéric Vincent for Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli said. (H.B./A.N./transl.rt)