If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: that could be the slogan for the European Commission proposal to renew the glyphosate licence in the EU which expires on 15 December. At 2.30pm on 27 November, the member states will once more be asked to vote to come to a qualified majority decision on the proposal for a five-year renewal of the licence of this highly controversial active substance in Monsanto’s total herbicide having been recognised as probably carcinogenic by the WHO, though not by the European agencies (EFSA and ECHA).
The proposal on the table is strictly identical to the one on which member state experts failed to agree at the meeting of the standing committee on plant, animals, food and feed (PAFF committee) (see EUROPE 11901). It is within an appeals committee, a higher level of representation, that the vote will take place at the time. The text does not include any plans to ban glyphosate, as called for by Parliament, which backs a total ban by 15 December 2022, and by the signatories of the “Stop glyphosate” European citizens’ initiative.
The Commission hopes to garner the support of at least 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the total EU population. This is by no means certain, however. In the event of failure to achieve this level of support, the decision could be taken by the Commission acting alone. This is something the institutions hopes to avoid, not keen to bear full responsibility for a comitology decision – a shared responsibility – European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis has made clear on numerous occasions. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)