The die has been cast. Victory has gone to Monsanto and the supporters of glyphosate, like the agricultural lobbies. The EU licence of this, the active substance in Monsanto’s total herbicide, which expires on 15 December, will finally be renewed for a period of five years, with no ultimate ban, contrary to what was sought by the European Parliament and the 1.3 million signatories of the “Stop glyphosate” European citizens’ initiative (see EUROPE 11908).
EU member state representatives, meeting in an appeals committee on Monday 27 November, gave their backing, by qualified majority, to the European Commission proposal – something the member state experts on the standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed (the PAFF committee) failed to do on 9 November (see EUROPE 11904 and 11893).
It was Germany, one of the EU’s big countries, which, by switching from abstention to voting in favour, shifted the balance of power towards the “yes” supporters and, this time, gave the Commission the qualified majority it needed for authorisation (at least 55% of countries representing at least 65% of the total population of the EU).
Commission relieved. For Health and Food Safety Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis, who feared that the Commission would be forced to make the decision alone, as it had done in 2016 and as the comitology procedure would have empowered it to do if no qualified majority could be reached, either for or against, this was a relief.
“Today’s vote shows that, when we all want to, we are able to share and accept our collective responsibility in decision making”, he said in a press release.
18-member states representing 65.71% of the population of the EU voted for: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.
Nine-member states representing 32.26% of the population voted against (the same as previously: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta).
Portugal (2.02% of the EU population) was the only country to abstain (when, on 9 November, the abstainers counted Bulgaria, Germany, Poland and Romania among their number, in addition to Portugal).
The decision puts an end to the uncertainty over the fate of glyphosate in the EU but not the controversy over this herbicide recognised as being probably carcinogenic for humans by the WHO’s International Centre for Research in Cancer, though not by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) or the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
The European Parliament voted for a total ban on glyphosate from 15 December 2022 with a five-year transition period and immediate restrictions on usage, including an immediate ban on non-professional use. Its last word has not yet been said on this issue.
The Parliamentary environment committee will vote on Tuesday 28 November on a proposal for objection to the Commission proposal, as it did previously on the previous proposal for renewal of the glyphosate licence for a period of ten years. No matter what, an objection from Parliament carries no legal weight.
“The member states have at last assumed their responsibilities. Let’s hope that these five years will allow alternatives to be put in place. Users of this substances cannot be left out on a technical limb that would see them penalised in health, environmental and economic terms”, said MEP Angélique Delahaye (EPP, France) after the appeals committee vote.
Indignation. S&D MEPs Éric Andrieu (France) and Marc Tarabella (Belgium) accuse the member states of “failing to come to the help of citizens in danger” and the Commission of “being responsible”. In a joint press release, they warn: “In view of European regulations on pesticides, we’re set for at least eight years of glyphosate!”
Similar indignation was expressed among Greens/EFA MEPs. “With the Commission this week presenting its proposal on reform of the common agricultural policy, the time had come to prepare to move away from glyphosate and, more generally, an outdated and under-performing agricultural model based on a massive use of pesticides. The new jewel in the European chemicals industry, Bayer-Monsanto, has defeated the general interest”, commented Michèle Rivasi (France), calling on all her fellow MEPs to support the call for the parliamentary committee of inquiry demanded by her group.
Franziska Achterberg of the NGO Greenpeace lamented: “The European Commission and most governments have chosen to ignore the warnings of independent scientists, the demands of the European Parliament and the petition signed by more than one million people calling for a glyphosate ban”.
Genon K. Jensen, Executive Director of the NGO HEAL (Health and Environmental Alliance) was very unhappy that European governments had “failed European citizens and future generations today by granting the world’s most widely used weed killer a new license to harm our health and our environment, rather than setting a date to ban glyphosate once and for all”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)