EU to allow Pioneer GMO if Council fails to act

Qualified majority is needed among the member states, but Europe is too divided and there is no quorum. Commission ready to authorise cultivation

by Emiliano Biaggio

European Union member States try to reach a political position on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), but the twenty eight are still far from a final decision and at this stage there no the legal numbers to have the qualified majority required to approve or reject the proposal for the cultivation of Pioneer 1507 maize within the EU. Next Tuesday the General affair council meeting is called to take an official position, but it's highly probable the final decision will be taken by the European Commission. The Council had three different possibilities: to vote in favour, to vote against, or to be not able to vote. In a such a case, the dossier will come back to Berlaymont building, where a common position will must be taken by the college of commissioners. Generally the Commission can rule in favour or against, but in this specific case - due to a sentence of the European court of justice which impose to allow the cultivation of Pioneer 1507 maize - if the Commission will have to say the last word there will be only a positive decision. In other words, in case of a non-decision during the General affair council scheduled for next Tuesday, in Europe will be introduced a new kind of Genetically Modified Organism.
Nowadays in European Union there are 49 authorised GMOs for food and feed (27 maizes, 8 cottons, 7 soy beans, 3 oilseed rapes, 1 sugar beet, 1 potato, 2 microorganisms). The case divided Europe is that one of the genetically modified maize 1507 (Bt maize), developed by Pioneer to confer resistance to specific harmful moth larvae for maize such as the European corn borer. It is currently authorised in the EU for food and feed uses, but not for cultivation. In 2001, the company Pioneer submitted an application for the authorisation of the maize 1507 for cultivation under the Directive (2001/18/EC) on the deliberate release of GMOs into the environment. More than ten years later, on 26 September 2013, the General Court established - in the judgement related to case T-164/10 - that the Commission failed to act under Directive 2001/18/EC by not submitting to the Council a proposal. The Commission cannot stop any process, and that's the reason why - in application of the Court judgement - the Commission on 6 November 2013 submitted a proposal for an authorisation decision on maize 1507 to the Council. But the Council has not a majority, neither to approve it nor to reject it. Into the Council member States have not the same voting right: each country has a number related to the density of population. So the biggest countries such as France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom have a vote whose value is 27, while the smallest member states such as Cyprus or Malta have a vote whose value is, respectively, 3 and 4. To reach the qualified majority is needed to put together countries accountable for at least 260 votes, but neither those in favour nor those against are able to reach such a quota. Unless the situation will be unlocked in the coming hours, EU member States will be not in position to take nay position, and the Commission will be forced to authorise Pioneer GMO.