Brussels, 25/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - As Commission Franz Fischler announced during the last Agriculture Council (EUROPE of 21 February), the European Commission must adopt, on 5 March, an 'information memorandum' on the problem of the coexistence of genetically modified crops and conventional farming (traditional and biological). This memorandum will aim to find 'policy guidelines' concerning the need real or not for the EU to adopt harmonising legislation in this area. At this stage, Mr Fischler's services feel that a good number of the issues linked to the coexistence between traditional farming and genetically modified crops may be resolved at the member state level. The Commission invites all the parties to express their views on this issue during a roundtable that will be organised on 24 April.
This dossier is politically highly sensitive as it seems that some member states are tempted to link this issue with the lifting of the moratorium, as they have done since 1999 in relation to the Community provisions on labelling and traceability. The Commission should notably examine whether, for example, it would be suitable to impose a code of best practices aimed at avoiding contamination, to ban certain areas from the farming of GMO or to leave the member states with the responsibility of legislating to avoid any dispute within the WTO. The main issue that presents itself is that of the financing of the measures necessary to avoid contamination. Biological farmers have already made it clear that they would like to receive compensation if their crops are damaged by GMO farming.