European commissioners gave their approval to "resume talks with the Member States on a possible renewal of the authorisation of glyphosate for 10 years," as pointed out by a spokesperson for the EU executive.
The license for this controversial herbicide expired in the EU in the summer of 2016 and, due to the lack of approval of the 28 Member States, Brussels was forced to extend the license for 18 months, pending a report from European experts.
France and Malta voted against it in a consultation held in late June, and this, together with the abstentions of seven countries (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg, Greece and Bulgaria) led to the blocking of the decision.
In its decision to relaunch the procedure, "the Commission took into account the latest scientific studies," in particular the conclusions of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), as explained by the EU executive in a short statement.
In mid-March, the ECHA pointed out that glyphosate should not be considered as a carcinogen; a finding that caused the dissatisfaction of many NGO's.
The European association of pesticide manufacturers (ECPA), which has Monsanto, Bayer, Dow, BASF or Syngenta as members, hoped that the Commission would soon start a new procedure for a 15-year license, which is longer than Brussels had planned.
The economic interest is not a trivial factor. The use of glyphosate-containing herbicides became widespread since their launch in the 1970's. With the development of transgenic crops resistant to this substance, such as Monsanto's RR (Roundup Ready) soybeans, their use became even more common.
Green MEP Harald Ebner lamented that "a new authorisation for 10 years without restrictions would show little respect for the citizens' initiative that was launched against glyphosate."
This initiative, which collected almost 750,000 signatures in four months, according to Greenpeace, seeks to ban this active principle, to reform the pesticide approval procedure and to introduce binding targets to reduce its use in the EU.
Source: AFP