After a debate the day before, Parliament is due to finalise its position, in Strasbourg on Wednesday 24 April, regarding the proposal updating the rules on the production and marketing of plant reproductive material in the EU.
The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament will be voting on a number of amendments aimed at correcting the position of Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, particularly regarding the excessive derogations granted. On 11 April, several EU farming organisations, including Copa-Cogeca and Euroseeds, asked MEPs to correct the draft report by Herbert Dorfmann (EPP, Italy) on plant reproductive material (see EUROPE 13389/30, 13374/13).
With regard to Annex VIIa (maximum quantities of reproductive material intended for conservation networks that would be exempt from the legislation), the Renew Europe group proposes reducing these quantities, which are deemed too large in the draft report. The risk of excessive quantities is that they may create “a parallel market” for conservation activities that do not comply with the rules. The draft report grants a total exemption from applying the regulation to very large quantities of plant reproductive material, which could be unlimited. This might lead to market distortions and a significantly increased risk of fraud.
For ‘small packages’, the quantities that can be sold to nursery workers, as laid down by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, are also too large, in the view of the Renew Europe group, which proposes that these quantities be reduced (2 kg for cereals and fodder plants, beets, 20 kg for seed potatoes, 250 g for vegetables, etc.).
Finally, with regard to exchanges of seeds between farmers (currently free of charge), the Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development is opening the possibility of these exchanges being paid for. The Renew Europe group proposes that only direct costs be compensated when seeds are exchanged.
The result of the votes on the amendments tabled by Renew Europe could be very close, according to several European sources.
Link to the report and amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/bvy (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)