ALDE MEP Corinne Lepage (CAP21, France), European Parliament rapporteur on the Commission proposal to the right to prohibit the cultivation of GMOs in Member States territory, regretted the inability of the Council of Environment Ministers to reach political agreement on this text.

Contrary to the Parliament, that has found a large majority on this delicate issue, and despite the Danish Presidency efforts, the Council has dodged its responsibility because of a minority of governments that seem to want to protect the reputation of GM products at any cost,  Corinne Lepage declared after Friday´s debate of Environment Council.  

Larger Member States are hypocritical when they present this proposal as a threat to the common market, because they often have themselves enacted safeguard clauses against the cultivation of GM maize.

A huge majority of European citizens is opposed to GMOs, and most countries want to prevent their cultivation on their territory. I therefore call on the Council to step up its efforts at finding a compromise that will provide Member States with precise and legally solid grounds to ban GMO cultivation, she expressed.

In parallel Member States should urgently improve the new guidelines on risk evaluation of GMOs, that are currently being discussed by national experts," she added.

European Parliament passed the report at first reading in July 2011 by a large majority.  If MEP´s are in favour of the possibility of national bans of GM crops, they believe that Member States should have solid legal grounds to do so to be able to invoke environmental reasons complementary to those evaluated at European level, as well as socio-economic reasons.