EU Working Group of Ministers about GMO

Paris has announced the creation of a “group of friends of the presidency” to consider the EU's GMO authorisation process, which it wants to take better account of “local specificities” at an informal meeting of the EU-27 environment ministers.Firstly, the French 'friends' group
will address the evaluation process for the authorisation of GMOs,
which, according to Kosciusko-Morizet, is not transparent enough and
does not take sufficient account of either the long-term effects of
GMOs or national expertise. So far, the approval procedures nearly
always end in deadlock in the Council due to strong disagreement
between member states on the issue, with the Commission finally
forcing GMO approvals on them.

Secondly, the group will discuss "how
the potential new effects – unknown at the time of the
authorisation -will be taken into account," she said.

The French 'friends' group is expected
to start its work in September and submit its conclusions to the
Environment Council on 4-5 December 2008.