The Council should listen to citizens’ concerns on GMOs, say leading S&D members

Today the public health and environment committee in the European Parliament supported strong measures to allow member states to limit or ban the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in their territory, even if they have been authorised at EU level.
 
Now the Parliament's negotiating team will meet with the Council to finalise the new directive on GMOs. The text adopted by the Parliament is more concrete than the Commission proposal, as it provides member states with the legal basis to ban GMOs beyond health and environment considerations, including socioeconomic reasons, land use and town planning, agricultural policy objectives and public policy issues.
 
S&D spokesperson on health and climate, MEP Matthias Groote, said:
 
"The Parliament has given itself a strong mandate in the upcoming negotiations with the Council of the EU.
 
"It is a fact, that the overwhelming majority of European citizens do not support the cultivation of GMOs. This position must be reflected in the final outcome of the negotiations."  

Gilles Pargneaux, who is the S&D member responsible for this file, said:
 
“GMOs are a good example of what the Parliament does or tries to do to champion citizens’ rights before the Commission or the Council.
 
“I welcome the adoption of a complete and very balanced report by Frédérique Ries. Once improved by our amendments, this report will faithfully reflect the position taken by the Parliament at first reading.
 
“This proposal brings more legal certainty to member states willing to limit or ban GMO cultivation in their territory. In future, they will be able to invoke new grounds: environmental policy, socioeconomic reasons or the need to avoid GMOs in other agricultural products.
 
"This report includes most of S&D’s priorities, such as the choice of the environmental legal basis, a more extensive list of reasons for banning, the need to have binding measures on coexistence in order to avoid the contamination of traditional cultivations by GMO cultivations, reinforcement of the risk evaluation method by the European Food Safety Evaluation (EFSA) and far greater transparency in the banning procedure.”