The majority of EU agriculture ministers were in favour, on Tuesday 25 July in Brussels, of the content of the proposal opening the door to the development of new genomic techniques (NGTs). However, some countries have expressed doubts about the proposed text.
France considered that the distinction between two categories of plants in the proposal was “relevant” (see EUROPE 13216/1). The French minister, Marc Fesneau, said that the issue of patents should not be left out of the discussions.
Italy has supported further work on this complex issue and has always been opposed to GMOs.
For Portugal, these new techniques make it possible to withstand climate change and the proposal is “balanced”. Finland supported the objectives of the proposal, as did Malta, Ireland, Denmark (NTGs should not be considered as GMOs, according to this delegation), and Sweden and the Netherlands as well.
Cem Özdemir, the German minister, said that the precautionary principle should not be forgotten and that transparency should be respected. One needs to get back to the patent debate, the German minister also stressed, as did the Austrian, Hungarian and Maltese ministers.
Slovakia stated that these NTGs can help the agricultural sector to participate in innovation, but only if the impact of bringing these techniques to market can be measured.
Romania says it does not understand why plants in the first category cannot be used in organic farming.
Several countries have expressed reservations, including Austria and Poland. Hungary has asked to be able to ban NTGs if it wants to, as have Croatia and Lithuania.
The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council hopes that EU countries will reach a common position on NTGs by the end of 2023.
Pesticides. Ministers held an exchange of views on the study completing the impact assessment of the proposal on the sustainable use of pesticides (see EUROPE 13216/5). Most ministers claimed that this study did not add anything new to the problem arising from the proposal (-50% pesticide use by 2030), which is likely to result in a drop in agricultural production. The majority of countries (Poland, Italy, Romania, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.) called for more realistic national reduction targets, and almost all the ministers opposed a total ban on plant protection products in sensitive areas.
Italy, France and Luxembourg have criticised the fact that the study designates vines and tomatoes as “non-essential” crops in the EU. France and others have insisted on the need for reliable alternatives to pesticides.
Germany and Denmark supported the objective of reducing the use of pesticides by 50%, but were critical of the ban on these products in sensitive areas.
“Our response confirms that a significant reduction in pesticide use and risk can be achieved, and indeed has been already achieved, without disrupting food security, food production, availability or prices”, said the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides. “We will have to come up with pragmatic solutions”, stressed the Commissioner after the ministers’ meeting.
Luis Planas, the current President of the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council, said he hoped the EU Council would make progress on the pesticides dossier by the end of 2023. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)