Brussels, 05/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - There is no qualified majority in sight among the member states for rejection of the highly controversial European Commission proposal to authorise TC 1057 genetically modified crops by the US company Pioneer-Dupont in EU. The Greek Presidency of the Council, which was to sound out the positions of the EU 28 ambassadors, came quickly to the conclusion on Wednesday 5 February that the numbers for a qualified majority could not be found. No vote was planned but, as things stand with the dossier, it will be necessary to wait for the debate and vote planned at the General Affairs Council on 11 February to have a definitive decision on the matter. As expected, Germany, which has 29 votes and whose official position has been eagerly awaited, has maintained the suspense by not giving its opinion on the matter and consequently dampening the hopes harboured by France of seeing Germany join the countries opposed to genetically modified maize crops. It is highly probable that Germany will abstain on 11 February, as feared by the Greens/EFA who sent a letter to the coalition government, urging it to vote against (see EUROPE 11011).
So far, 176 votes have been garnered against the proposal, more than during the vote at the regulatory committee in 2009 (127 votes against) but this is still far from the 260 votes needed out of the 352 to constitute a qualified majority. If voting is the same at the Council, the Commission will authorise this genetically modified maize. The number of those opposed to the proposal has grown (Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovakia). Romania grows GMOs and voted against this proposal in 2009 but could change its position and abstain.
On Wednesday, one diplomatic source pointed out that “the move is more against but, unless there is a last-minute change to the current positions, there will be no majority. Even if Germany and Romania vote against, this will not be enough”.
At the request of several delegations (Denmark, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg, amongst others), a more extensive debate could take place on GMOs at the Environment Council on 3 March. The Greek Presidency is looking at this possibility. There is no doubt that, if this occurs, the European Commission will call for its proposal of July 2010 to be discussed, which aims to allow member states to either ban or limit the cultivation of GMOs that have been authorised in the EU on their territory. It has always presented this proposal as the solution to the persistent blockages at the Council, but this also remains deadlocked. (AN/transl.fl)