Brussels, 19/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Member State experts did not manage, on Wednesday, to agree about whether to authorise or to ban imports into Europe of NK 603 maize, which is genetically modified by the American agri-food group, Monsanto, although France and Portugal did change sides. This new hitch for the European Commission and its allies, applauded by environmental protectionists, confirms that the de facto moratorium honoured by the EU since 1999 on imports of new GMOs is not to be lifted in the near future. As for Syngenta's Bt-11 genetically engineered maize, the dossier is forwarded to Environment Ministers who, in turn, are expected to settle this tricky issue by qualified majority. The Council has three months in which to give its opinion. If it is unable to rally a qualified majority either to reject or to approve the proposal, then it will be up to the European Commission to clear imports of NK 603 maize. Go-ahead of this kind would not come before 18 April, the date when the new Community rules on GMO take effect. Imports of this maize, intended for animal feed, must be put to the vote of the standing committee on the food chain, which will look at the dossier in June.
The experts from the regulatory committee on the dissemination of GMOs in the environment were divided on the issue of importing NK603 corn, but, compared to December's vote on sweetcorn Bt11, three Member States more rallied to those in favour, i.e. France, Portugal (which were both in the opposition camp in December), and Belgium (which abstained). Italy, which abstained in December, this time joined the camp of hostile countries. The results of the vote were as follows: nine countries voted for the importation of transgenic corn (France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Ireland, Finland and Sweden), five against (Italy, Denmark, Greece, Luxembourg and Austria), and Germany abstained.
In a press release, Greenpeace welcomed this "reversal" for the Commissions, but expressed its disappointment that France, one of the countries behind the moratorium, seemed to have bowed to pressure from the Americans and companies concerned. The EP's Greens/FTA group said in a press release that "the absence of a binding European legal arsenal on co-existence, of civil liability and insurance obliges the Commission and the Council to refuse all requests for GMOs", and called upon the regions of the EU to create territorial GM-free zones.