Brussels, 16/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - The fact that the authorisation granted by the European Commission for BASF's genetically modified Amflora potatoes to be grown has been cancelled by the General Court of the EU on the grounds of violation of the procedural rules (see EUROPE 10984) comes as no surprise to the Greens/EFA at the Parliament or to the environmental NGOs, but all feel that the Commission needs to learn lessons from this by immediately withdrawing its proposed authorisation for MON 1507 maize by Pioneer-DuPont.
“This annulment by the ECJ calls the Commission's role … into question. The pro-GM tendency of the Commission is no secret but that the Commission did not respect the rules governing authorisations indicates its gung-ho nature with regard to this highly controversial technology. It is scandalous that the Commission is trying to bulldoze through the authorisation of this GMOs in spite of the massive opposition of EU citizens, as well as member state governments”, commented the Belgian MEP Bart Staes, who is spokesperson for the Greens/EFA on food safety and environmental issues. He added that “as an immediate response, EU governments must take heed and freeze all potential and pending GMO authorisations”, including the proposed authorisation for genetically modified maize MON 1507 which was presented last month and which was not ultimately debated by the Environment Council last Friday (see EUROPE 10982, 10959 and 10958). And if the Commission does not withdraw its proposal, the governments should reject it. “The Greens are calling on EU governments to reject this”, he added. A draft resolution to this end has been tabled and will be voted on this week by the Parliament's committee on the environment.
More generally, “there is a need to reform the EU's GMO authorisation process to take account of the consistently negative decisions in the EU's Council of Ministers”, said the MEP. And the Commission's proposal to allow member states to ban or limit the growth of GMO crops authorised in the EU on their territory (rapporteur: Corine Lepage, ADLE, France), which is still at stalemate within the Council, “must not be a trick to allow the Commission to force through swift and easy EU level authorisations”, warned Bart Staes.
Similarly, Greenpeace welcomed the ruling of the General Court of the EU annulling the authorisation for Amflora. The NGO reiterates that it accused the Commission of ignoring the significant concerns expressed by the scientific community and the majority opposition of the general public to GM crops, as evidenced by a petition with 1 million signatures. This ruling “demolishes the Commission's plans to rush through the approval of GM maize 1507”, says Marco Contiero of Greenpeace's European office. (AN/transl.fl)