EU countries fail to reach consensus on reapproving glyphosate

European Commission suggestions that glyphosate’s license be renewed for even as little as three years failed to garner support among EU countries today, pushing a decision on the controversial weedkiller into November.

“The Commission took note of the positions of the different delegations of member states upon which it will now reflect and will announce the date of the next meeting shortly,” a Commision spokesperson said at the close of the meeting in the Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed.

During several informal voting rounds during the meeting, countries initially discarded a Commission proposal to renew glyphosate — the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup pesticide — for 10 years.

Subsequent attempts to attract enough support for both a seven-year or five-year reapproval also failed, according to two diplomats briefed on the negotiations in Brussels.

The Commission will now look to hold another vote in November, just weeks before glyphosate’s license in Europe expires on December 15.

The diplomats said that France said it could support a three year renewal period, but that many other countries did not have a mandate to lend their support to such a proposal. The U.K. said it could not accept three years.

The Commission spokesperson said Brussels would “continue to work with the member states to find a solution that enjoys the largest possible support.”

Original Article

Politico