07/09/23 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 7 September, Austria’s Minister for the Environment and Climate, Leonore Gewessler, announced that her country would “fight to bring together a coalition of EU countries opposed to the proposal on GMOs derived from new genomic techniques” (NGTs) (see EUROPE 13216/1, 13243/4). She was speaking at a press conference at the European Parliament organised by German MEPs Martin Haüsling and Sarah Wiener (Greens/EFA). She reiterated the need to “act with caution, in the name of the precautionary principle”, which “the European Commission has ignored”. Also pleading for “freedom of choice”, she pointed out that her country had twice put the subject on the agenda of the EU Environment Council before the text was presented. “You have to wonder what interests are behind” this proposal, she said. MEPs once again condemned the monopoly of the major seed companies (see EUROPE 13215/4). (AN)