The European Commission is well and truly heading towards possible renewal, for a period of ten years, of the glyphosate authorisation in the EU and, to this end, has decided to re-open discussions with the member states, the institution said on Wednesday 17 May, to the great disappointment of those, who include MEPs, opposing this highly controversial pesticide.
The decision to press ahead was taken without any in-depth debate at the meeting of the College of Commissioners in Strasbourg. On submission of a briefing note from Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, the College agreed to re-open discussions on possible renewal of authorisation for a period of ten years, new food safety spokesperson Anca Paduraru said on Wednesday in response to questions from the press.
The Commission is basing its decision on the opinion delivered in March by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), which, like the opinion issued previously by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), said that this active substance, deemed probably carcinogenic by the World Health Organisation, should not be classified as a carcinogen, mutagen or substance toxic for reproduction.
The proposal is expected to be submitted to the member states in June under the comitology procedure, with a view, the Commission hopes, to gaining as wide support as possible.
S&D Group ready to call for commission of inquiry. In the European Parliament, two Socialist MEPs, Eric Andrieu (France) and Marc Tarabella (Belgium), who are calling for a Parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Monsanto Papers affair, were outraged. “What a nerve! The Commission is really trampling underfoot the health of 500 million consumers!” they said.
In Strasbourg on Tuesday evening, the two MEPs won the full support of their group, which will put an oral question to the European Commission on glyphosate and the Monsanto Papers with a request for a debate on 12 June, followed by a joint hearing of the environment and agriculture committees. If it is not satisfied with the response from the Commission, the group will ask a Parliamentary commission of inquiry or a special committee to be set up, Andrieu and Tarabella stated.
“Right in the midst of the Monsanto Papers scandal, the European Commission is trying to extend authorisation of glyphosate by ten years in Europe. If it had wanted to demonstrate the hold that certain multinationals have over it, it could not have done any better”, stated Michèle Rivasi (Greens/EFA, France), who is a member of the Parliament’s environment committee.
Her compatriot Angélique Delahaye (EPP) was more restrained with her reminder that, last year, before the Commission decided ultimately to extend the glyphosate licence for a period of 18 months initially, Parliament had voted to restrict authorisation to seven years (rather than ten) (see EUROPE 11531). She called for “medium- and long-term consideration of the best alternative, economically viable solution” rather than “stubborn principled opposition”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)