Brussels, 11/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The anticipated political agreement on the proposal for the “cultivation à la carte” of GMOs in the European Union will be the major step forward taken by the Environment Council meeting in Luxembourg this Thursday 12 June. This will allow the Greek Presidency to conclude the first reading on this highly sensitive dossier, which was taken off ice in March of this year, and to end its term in office on a high, passing the baton to the Italian Presidency for the second reading and, all being well, formal adoption.
The draft Climate/Energy 2030 framework for action and the air quality package are also included for debate on the agenda of this ministerial session to be chaired by Yiannis Maniatis, Greek Minister for the Environment, Energy and Climate Change. Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment, Tonio Borg, Commissioner for Health, who is responsible for GM issues, and Connie Hedegaard, European Commissioner for Climate Action, will represent the Commission
GMO. The Council will conclude a political agreement on the draft regulation aiming to amend Directive 2001/18/EC, to give the member states the, strictly controlled, option to ban or limit within their borders the cultivation of GMOs which are authorised or are currently being authorised at EU level. The ministers will formalise the agreement in principle reached on 28 May at ambassador level on the compromise of the Greek Presidency, which was negotiated by the GM working group of the Council (see EUROPE 11090). Only Belgium and Luxembourg are expected to abstain. France describes the agreement as “globally acceptable”, as it offers more legal security than initially planned.
Under the compromise, it would be up to the petitioner (the company wishing to obtain authorisation for the cultivation of a GMO) to designate the member states in which it wishes to cultivate it and up to the member states to notify the Commission if they wish to be withdrawn from the geographical scope, for all or part of their territory. The Commission would, in such cases, ask the petitioner to reduce the scope of application of its request as a consequence.
If a member state which has been designated opposes cultivation and the petitioner refuses to take this opposition into account, the said member state will be able to invoke its opt-out, giving reasons which do not conflict with the health and environmental risk assessment carried out by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The European Commission will act as intermediary between the member states and the company making the request. The text contains an open list of reasons the member states may rely on, by notifying these to the Commission: environmental policy objections, urban or rural planning grounds, socio-economic impacts, the need to avoid the presence of GMOs in other products, agricultural policy objectives or reasons of public order. The final European decision to approve or reject the authorisation will be taken by qualified majority in comitology. If no qualified majority can be reached, an appeals committee will make the final decision. If it fails to do so, the Commission may adopt the decision, “but the chances of achieving a qualified majority are higher than under the current system”, a diplomat stated on Wednesday. The text will be reviewed in four years.
Climate/Energy framework 2030. Following the exploratory debate of 14 May at the informal ministerial meeting of Athens (see EUROPE 11080), the Council held a public debate on the draft integrated framework for energy and climate policies between now and 2030, ahead of the June European summit. The ministers will be invited to take position on the possibility of involving new sectors and on the challenges related to the investments needed to implement the framework for action.
Clean Air for Europe: the Council will hold a public policy debate on the two proposed directives of the clean air for Europe package, which was presented by the Commission in December of last year to improve air quality. The ministers will be invited to take position on the relevance of the scope of application, with particular focus on the flexibility and exemptions provided for. They will examine the draft new directive to reduce sulphur dioxide and micro-particles from medium-sized combustion facilities (such as district energy production plants and large buildings) and small industrial installations, and the revision of the directive on national emissions ceilings (NEC), laying down stricter upper limits for the six main pollutants by 2025 to be complied with by 2030, and bringing in provisions on methane and ammonia.
Biodiversity: the Council is expected to adopt conclusions on the position to be defended by the EU at the forthcoming meetings of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 12, to be held in October of this year in Pyeongchang, South Korea) and the related protocols (the Cartagena Protocol and the Nagoya Protocol) on access to genetic resource and benefit-sharing. (AN)