On Tuesday 10 December, the EU agriculture ministers confirmed the difficulties that exist regarding the proposed regulation on producing and marketing plant reproductive material in the EU.
The Hungarian presidency of the EU Council has provided an overview of the technical progress made on the proposals relating to plant reproductive material (https://aeur.eu/f/en5 ) and forest reproductive material (https://aeur.eu/f/en6 ).
Many ministers, including those from Germany, Spain and Austria, have criticised the control provisions as being too bureaucratic. In addition, several delegations did not support the examination of the value for sustainable cultivation and use (VSCU) of fruit and vegetable species. The Hungarian presidency of the EU Council has proposed separating the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) and VSCU tests in order to remove the obligation to subject these species to the VSCU test, but a majority of Member States consider this compromise insufficient.
In general, the ministers welcomed the progress made in examining these files and expressed their willingness to continue negotiations with a view to reaching a common position on the proposals relating to plant and forest reproductive material in the near future.
For Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, it is important to maintain the momentum in order to reach a rapid agreement in the EU Council on these issues, with a view to launching negotiations between the three EU institutions. Discussions will continue in early 2025 under the Polish presidency of the EU Council. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)