Important for innovation and sustainability, say supporters. Turning a blind eye to the risks, say the opponents. New battles over genetic modification await when the European Commission wants to ease the permit requirements.
Better soil, less waste and more resilient food is what is promised by the EU for a whole series of new proposals in the climate area.
A soil monitoring law will ensure that the member states get better control of how the farmland is doing. At the same time, new targets must be set to reduce food waste by 2030 by 10 percent at producer level and 30 percent for restaurants and households.
Most controversial, however, is the desire to facilitate the use of genetically modified plants. A new classification is proposed to simplify the permit requirements for gene-edited plants that are considered to be comparable to completely natural plants.
“Faster and more precise”
– New genomic techniques can provide the same results as via natural selection processes or directed crosses, but much faster and more precisely. Farmers are getting new, more sustainable crops that require less use of pesticides, Climate Action Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans claimed at a press conference in Brussels.
Greenpeace critical
However, the environmental organization Greenpeace is sharply critical of the simpler rules.
“Whether it’s toys or face cream, products on our market need to be tested – why should there be an exception for genetically modified products that land on our fields and plates?”, asks Greenpeace activist Eva Corral in a press release.
At the same time, Timmermans points out that the new rules should be seen as a whole that also includes other measures – above all the much-discussed proposal on nature restoration, which is currently sharply criticized by several member states as well as the right-wing parties in the EU Parliament. A vote in the full parliament next week could be decisive as to whether that proposal is dropped or not.
– Let me be clear: if we seriously want to save our planet for future generations, you cannot pick the icing from the cake. Today’s proposals are closely linked to nature restoration, says Timmermans in Brussels.