[autom.vertaling] Resultaat van Landbouw/de Raad van de Visserij van September 2003 (en)

GMOs: guidelines on co-existence

Commissioner Fischler presented the Commission recommendation on guidelines concerning the co-existence of GMOs with conventional and organic farming.

"The question of safety and environmental risk assessment of GMOs is already well addressed under existing Community legislation on the authorisation of GMOs. Thus, the guidelines on co-existence do not address food safety or environmental aspects. I strongly believe that we should not close the door to the development and the use of biotechnology in European agriculture. At the same time, of course, by establishing the conditions for co-existence, we must ensure that farmers who want to use conventional and organic farming methods, should be able to do so. It is also important to note that the co-existence debate should not be misused for causes that will further delay the authorisation of new GMOs », Fischler said.

Fischler went on saying that many of the factors that determined the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of co-existence measures were specific to national and regional characteristics and farming practices. « They vary greatly from one Member State to another and within national territories. The same logic applies to crops: different crops need different measures that correspond to their propensity for cross-pollination and other crop-specific characteristics. The Commission guidelines reflect this: they provide general orientations at the level of the Community, but leave it up to Member States to implement these according to their national situations and needs. I would say that the issue of co-existence is a typical case of the principle of subsidiarity: decisions should be made at the most appropriate and efficient level. It does not make sense to overly equalise everything. », the Commissioner pointed out.

"The co-operation among farmers in a region and their exchange of information and experiences will be of particular importance. For instance, I would support the idea of farmers joining on a voluntary basis to create zones of GM-free production or bio-regions. Concerning the important issue of liability, it is clear to me that this question has to be tackled but I believe that it could be answered at the national level. As a first step, Member States should inspect their liability rules to analyse if their national laws offer sufficient possibilities for protecting, for instance, an organic farmer whose crop is devalued because of accidental GMO presence. In this context, it may also be advisable to think about new concepts of insurance.", Fischler concluded.

Reform of tobacco, cotton, olive oil and sugar sectors

The Council held a short policy debate on the reform package. Commissioner Fischler presented the Commission's reform proposals. "The proposals for olive oil, tobacco and cotton are in line with the reform decision in Luxembourg in June 2003. For all three sectors, our objective is to achieve sustainability. We will table legal proposal in November with a view to apply the reforms from 1 January 2005", Fischler stressed.

As to the sugar option paper, Fischler pointed out that the upcoming changes had to follow the principles of the CAP reform: The switch from product support to farmers support, reduction of the gap between world market and internal price and a consideration of the quota regime. Furthermore, the reform must also take account of the international impact, especially on the ACP-countries.

State aids for Spanish nut sector

The Spanish government requested to grant a transitional aid to the producers of nuts and locust beans. The Council decided to postpone the item until October.

Formal adoption of the June CAP reform package

The Council formally adopted the reform package politically agreed in June as an A-point.