Spain’s Minister of Agriculture, Luis Planas, said on Thursday 5 December, that he was convinced that new genomic techniques (NGTs) were “an excellent tool for tackling the effects of climate change on agriculture”. He wants to believe that, in 2025, “an agreement will be reached at European Union level on this new technology, which will be another factor in increasing the competitiveness of the European agri-food sector”.
To achieve this, the Council of the EU will have to find a common position, which will be impossible under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council due to Hungarian reticence on the sensitive subject of NGTs (see EUROPE 13499/15). The European Parliament adopted its position at first reading on 24 April 2024.
In preparation for an exchange of views at the EU ‘Agriculture and Fisheries’ Council on 9 and 10 December, the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU has drafted a note on recent work carried out at expert level on new genomic techniques (see EUROPE 13538/8).
Among the issues under discussion are the criteria for equivalence between NGT plants and so-called ‘conventional’ plants, and the detection and identification of plants and products derived from the new techniques.
Link to this page: https://aeur.eu/f/eod (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur )