The qualified majority required to validate the text was not reached. For its part, France abstained on the renewal for ten years of the authorization of the herbicide in the European Union.
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Disagree. The 27 member countries of the European Union failed to agree, Friday October 13, on Brussels’ proposal to renew the authorization of glyphosate for ten years, which will lead to a new vote in November. The European Commission proposed to renew its green light for the use of the herbicide until December 2033, after a report from a European regulator, estimating that the level of risk did not justify banning the substance.
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For the text proposed by the Commission in September to be adopted, a qualified majority had to be obtained, i.e. 15 states out of 27, representing at least 65% of the European population. It has not been reached, announced the European executive.
An authorization which expires on December 15
For its part, France decided to abstain during the vote, which was held behind closed doors. “We have said, from the start, that the Commission’s proposal as it is formulated, 10 years without conditions, does not correspond to the trajectory” decided by Paris for several years. France wishes “restrict uses where there are alternatives to ensure that there is less glyphosate”, a controversial herbicide, explained Marc Fesneau, the Minister of Agriculture, to AFP. The EU’s leading agricultural power, France is pleading for its approach to be “harmonized at European level” to avoid any unfair competition.
The active substance of several herbicides was classified in 2015 as a “probable carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization. The current authorization of glyphosate in the EU, renewed in 2017 for five years and then extended for an additional year, expires on December 15.
Until the new vote, the Commission can modify its proposal at any time. But if there is still not a sufficient majority to support it, the European executive can then decide alone to extend the authorization.