Brussels, July 16 - EU farm ministers clashed on Monday on whether to approve a genetically modified (GMO) potato for growing, passing the final say to the bloc's executive and thus paving the way for the first new "live" GMO crop for years
Developed by German chemicals group BASF, the potato yields high amounts of starch. While it would be grown in Europe's fields, it is not intended for direct human consumption and its starch would be used in industries like paper-making.
Since the ministers failed to achieve the required majority under the EU's weighted voting system, the decision now passes to the European Commission, which should now issue a rubberstamp authorisation according to EU legal procedures.
"We will make 120 percent sure that this product is absolutely safe," Commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told a daily news briefing earlier on Monday.
"It's not a matter of whether it's appropriate for the Commission or not -- it is following rules ... agreed by member states and institutions of the EU."
However, it was unclear exactly how long approval might take -- possibly, officials say, due to reluctance inside the Commission's environment department to push the dossier forward.
It would be the EU's first approval of a GMO crop for cultivation since its de facto six-year moratorium on new biotech authorisations. That ban ended, again by a default Commission rubberstamp, in 2004.
No more GMO crops have gained EU approval for cultivation since that time.
VOTING STALEMATE
The European Union has long been split on GMO policy and its 27 member states consistently clash over whether to approve new varieties for import -- but without ever reaching a conclusion.
Even the idea of how biotech crops should be separated from traditional and organic varieties has proved controversial.
Analysis of recent voting patterns indicates that the consistent "blocking minority" of EU governments may be eroding as some smaller countries are opting to abstain rather than reject an application outright -- so weakening the "anti-GMO" camp.
"There are some member states, regardless of scientific evidence, that don't think any new GMO approval is necessary," one EU diplomat said.
Industry and diplomatic sources said those countries voting against an approval were: Austria, Malta, Latvia, Luxembourg, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and Ireland.
Six countries abstained: Romania, Spain, Slovenia, Portugal, France and Bulgaria. The rest of the EU-27 were in favour.
While some EU countries almost always vote in favour of approving new GMOs, they are offset by a group of GMO-sceptic states that vote against and force a voting stalemate.
In Europe, consumers are well known for their scepticism, if not hostility, to GMO crops. The international biotech industry says its products are perfectly safe and no different to conventional foods.