Brussels, 28/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 25 October, Greenpeace filed a complaint with the European Ombudsman regarding the Commission's failure to disclose policy options considered as part of its plan to give countries the right to opt out of GM crops authorised in the EU for use as food and animal feed.
An element of irony characterised the Greenpeace EU food policy director, Franziska Achterberg's explanation, “We had requested a series of documents about the GM food and feed opt-out plan, but all we got back was heavily redacted papers that revealed nothing except the Commission's swashbuckling enthusiasm with a black marker. It's not because an issue is controversial that the Commission can ignore EU transparency laws”.
In its complaint, Greenpeace argues that the Commission had failed to properly apply EU rules for access to documents and had sacrificed the public's right to be informed in order to protect and strengthen its negotiating position vis-à-vis the Parliament and Council (see other article). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)