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The environment ministers of the 28 EU member states agreed during a 12 June meeting in Luxembourg to “legislation that would give member states the leverage to ban GMOs [genetically modified organisms] on their territory”, writes French paper Le Monde, bringing an end to a fifteen-year debate. However, notes the daily, “decisions concerning the use of transgenic seeds would be made at the European level” —
To break this deadlock, the European Council hopes to facilitate authorisation of transgenic seeds within the Union by granting refractory states a stronger legal basis to ban GMOs on their own territory. Aside from exclusively scientific considerations, they will be able to cite socio-economic and ethical factors, as well as the interest of keeping public order.
