Brussels, 12/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Just as the EU's very first citizens' petition has gathered more than 1 million signatures calling for a moratorium on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), debate between the pro- and anti-GMO camps will certainly resume at the Environment Council in Luxembourg on Thursday 14 October.
The political debate among member states' environment ministers on the new guidelines on European GMO authorisation policy will allow the Belgian Presidency to determine their point of view on the proposal from the European Commission that member states should be allowed to decide whether or not to permit GM crops, which have been authorised at European level, to be grown in their territories, so long as the reasons for preventing such crops are to do with health or the environment and are duly submitted to the Commission. That was the solution reached by the Commission to bring an end to the current paralysis in authorisation procedures which several member states are challenging with safeguard clauses, resulting in only MON 810 maize from Monsanto and the Amflora genetically modified potato from BASF being cultivated in the EU for the moment. The debate among member states is more likely to complicate the task, however.
For the rest, the Council, to be chaired by Belgian Environment Minister Joke Schauvliege, will devote a lot of time to preparation of two major international events: the global conference on biodiversity in Nagoya (18-29 October) and the UN climate change conference in Cancún (29 November-10 December). For the first of these events, Council conclusions will serve as the negotiating mandate for Nagoya. For Cancún, the conclusions will feed into the discussions by heads of state and government at the European Council on 28-29 October.
GMO crops under debate - Ministers will discuss the new European rules presented by the Commission in July - a draft regulation seeking to amend Directive 2001/18/EC on the release into the environment of GMOs and a recommendation on the co-existence of GM crops and conventional or organic crops. The Presidency expects ministers to judge whether the proposals are the feasible and legally sound, in terms of the Treaty and WTO rules. Member states will also say whether they feel the Commission had responded satisfactorily to the requests made in their conclusions of December 2008.
It is likely that the Environment Council will be less critical than the Agriculture Council (see EUROPE 10222) of the legislative package that Consumer Policy Commissioner John Dalli will defend. In July, 13 environment ministers (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia) asked for member states to be given greater freedom to decide on GMO-free areas. They also pressed the Commission to respond urgently to all requests submitted in 2008, that is, to allow member states to assess the socio-economic benefits of GM crops and, above all, to bring profound reform to the European system of authorisation and evaluation in order to strengthen assessment by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) of the environmental risk posed by GMOs. Hitherto, no action has been taken on these calls. France, which is particularly keen to see EFSA procedures improved, will certainly make the point once again.
Biodiversity to 2020 - The Council will adopt conclusions on the 10th conference of the parties to the convention on biological diversity. It will reconfirm the European target of halting the decline in biodiversity by 2020 and stress the need for the EU to be a driver in negotiations. Europe wants an ambitious target, with a strategy for achieving it, an agreement on a balanced, effective international regime which provides those who use genetic resources with clarity, transparency and legal certainty, a realistic, constructive approach to ensure that all parties engage the scientific, human and financial resources to match their commitments, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on 8 October.
Cancún - The conclusions to be adopted by the Council will highlight the EU's desire that Cancún bring a set of balanced concrete decisions on the protection of tropical forests, on monitoring and checking of emissions reductions and on making the pledges in the Copenhagen Accord of December last year into a UN decision.
Options for European climate offer - the Council will adopt conclusions on the possible options for taking the EU's target for the reduction of CO2 emissions by 2020 up from 20% to 30%. In June, the Council asked the Commission to provide further information on the costs and benefits to the various member states of increasing the European offer. The Commission has not yet provided that information. Without the assessment which the Commission hopes to bring forward at the same time as its proposal in the first half of next year, the Council will have to content itself with saying that it will again debate the issue before the spring European Council. The Belgian Presidency will present its own report to the Council in the form of guidance on the options to take. (A.N./transl.rt)