While Germany is the only major EU country to have announced to the European Commission its intention to vote against the ten-year renewal of the licence for the active substance glyphosate in the EU, it is not the only EU Member State to declare that it will do the same, contrary to what we had written (see EUROPE 13257/8).
After the ScoPAFF Standing Committee meeting on 22 September, small countries such as Luxembourg and Austria announced, via their Agriculture Ministries, that they would vote against.
On 23 October, when the EU27 experts vote at the ScoPAFF, a qualified majority - at least 55% of countries representing 65% of the EU population - will be needed to approve or reject the proposal (see EUROPE 13254/1). In the absence of a qualified majority for or against, an appeal committee will be convened in November.
Luxembourg and Austria were among the countries that voted twice in 2017 against renewing the licence for this highly controversial herbicide (initially for ten years, then for five), unlike Germany, which ultimately voted in favour (see EUROPE 11913/1).
Luxembourg banned the marketing of products containing glyphosate on its territory in February 2020, before a court ruled otherwise in April 2023. A vote by the Austrian Parliament in 2019 to impose the same ban in 2020 was eventually cancelled. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)