by Dan Alexe The European Parliament voted today on a new law on national bans of genetically modified (GM) crops. The Parliament’s environment committee voted to amend the position agreed last June by ministers, which, according to Greenpeace, was riddled with legal holes and went against the Parliament’s earlier vote. Commenting on the outcome of the vote, Marco Contiero, Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director said: “Thumbs up to the new Parliament for wanting to secure a GM-free agriculture and environment for Europeans. Parliamentarians have radically improved the text adopted by the Council, which was heavily influenced by the UK government pro-GM stance. Today’s vote would give European countries a legally solid right to ban GM cultivation in their territory, making it difficult for the biotech industry to challenge such bans in court.” In its position, the Parliament reinstated countries’ right to ban GM crop cultivation because of environmental concerns, and limited the central role that the EU ministers wanted to offer to biotech companies in the banning process. The Parliament, Commission and governments will now start negotiations, aiming to finalise the new law in the coming weeks. In Europe, Spain is the largest producer of GM crops, with 76,000 hectares of GM maize planted in 2009 (20% of Spain's maize production). Smaller amounts are produced in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Portugal, Romania and Poland. France and Germany are the major opponents of genetically modified food in Europe, followed by Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, and Luxembourg.
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