EU proposes GM crop shake-up despite dissent

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive adopted proposals on Tuesday to allow member states to ban the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops, despite strong opposition from industry and some EU governments.

"We are basically giving much more flexibility to member states to restrict the cultivation of GMOs in their countries," EU Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner John Dalli said at a news press conference in Brussels.

The proposals confirmed a twin-track approach set out in drafts seen by Reuters in June, with an amendment to EU rules on GM cultivation accompanied by non-binding guidelines designed to introduce the change immediately.

Those drafts said giving countries the freedom to ban GM crops would unblock the EU's GM approval system, which could lead to a rise in GM crop plantings in countries already growing them such as Spain and the Czech Republic.

But all references to speeding up EU GM approvals were removed from the final proposals, and Dalli denied that the Commission had proposed the change in order to convince sceptical member states to approve new GM varieties.

"I don't expect countries to change their voting patterns," the Maltese commissioner told journalists.

"We will not be using this as leverage in any way to get more positive decisions."

STRONG OPPOSITION

In order to pass, the proposed legislative amendment will need the approval of EU lawmakers and a qualified majority of member states under the bloc's weighted voting system.

But ministers from several EU countries including France and Spain have already criticised the proposals for seeking to dismantle the 27-nation bloc's common policy on GM crops.

"We hope that decisions will continue to be taken at community level. We don't support the renationalisation of (GM) decisions," French Farm Minister Bruno Le Maire told journalists in Brussels on Monday.

Environmental campaigners Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth said the proposals were an attempt to open Europe's fields to GM crops. EU farm lobby Copa-Cogeca said the plans would create new legal and commercial risks for farmers.

Biotech companies meanwhile have warned that the proposals will create legal uncertainty and disrupt the EU's single market for agricultural goods, resulting in a slew of internal market disputes and legal challenges.

But Dalli insisted that the proposals would give greater legal certainty to companies and governments, and said a legal review of the plans had revealed no contradiction with World Trade Organisation rules.

NEXT STEPS

The non-binding guidelines on the co-existence of GM and non-GM crops take immediate effect, and allow countries to set technical requirements for GM farming that would effectively prohibit it from whole regions and countries.

Until the legislative change is adopted -- which Dalli said could take some time -- the Commission will continue to apply the existing legislation on GM cultivation.

He will present the legislative proposals to EU lawmakers in the parliament's environment committee later on Tuesday, and ask them to limit their debate to the proposed legal change, rather than open up the bloc's whole GM legislation for review.

The Commission will brief governments on the plans in October, and EU environment ministers will hold their first detailed discussion on the proposals on December 20, according to the agenda of the Belgian EU Presidency.

Dalli hinted that a more comprehensive revision of the EU's GM legislation could happen in 2012, once an external evaluation of the bloc's policies and a review of the environmental risk assessment for GMOs are both complete.

(Editing by James Jukwey and Keiron Henderson)