Brussels, 11/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - By all accounts, the breakdown of conciliation on foods from cloned animals and their offspring, which has scuppered any agreement on the updating of the Novel Food regulation of 1997, is a problem for food safety and consumer information. The Parliament, Commission and Council managed at least to agree on this point, all taking the view that today, the traceability and labelling of foods from cloned animals from third countries is still not assured in the EU and that the progress made on the other points of the regulation, such as the centralised authorisation procedure and the labelling of nano-material, are currently at deadlock. They expressed this view in Strasbourg on 11 May, following a trialogue, during a lively debate started by Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy), who went full tilt against the Council. “We have not managed to regulate cloning, because the governments did not want to. Food safety is a serious problem, which calls for a real solution: the labelling of all foods from cloned animals and their offspring.” Chastened by this failure, the MEPs were unanimous - as they were during the conciliation procedure - in calling on the Commission to present a new proposal as a matter of urgency to get out of deadlock and listen to the European citizens. Commissioner for Health and Consumers John Dalli undertook to do so, pledging that he would present “two proposals very soon: one on cloning (following an impact assessment) and the other on novel foods”.
The Hungarian Presidency was spared much criticism, as the Parliament was aware that it has done its best, having inherited a complex dossier late in the day. The Council, on the other hand, was hauled over the coals when Kartika Tamara Liotard (GUE/NGL, Netherlands), rapporteur for the revised Novel Food regulation, spoke of a confidential legal document of the Council which, she argued, proves “that a ban on food from cloned animals and their offspring is entirely defendable at the WTO and offers a possibility to protect consumers”, contrary to statements made by Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who spoke of a potential trade war. The indignation of the MEPs was at its peak. “Have the member states had sight of this document? If not, it is scandalous. If they had, false arguments have been used”, said the rapporteur. Corine Lepage (ALDE, France), who said that she was “stupefied”, put the same question to the Commission, stating that clarity on this issue was “a major political issue”. The representative of the Hungarian Presidency confirmed that the EU27 “naturally knew about this internal document”, but added that the conclusions referred to “risks regarding compatibility with WTO rules” and stated the opinion that “labelling was the best solution”. (A.N./transl.fl).