EU vote: German minister can ban glyphosate

Many Germans are very critical against glyphosate.This was once more obvious at the big Berlin demo in January 2016.

It is likely that on 18 or 19 May the EU member states will vote on whether and under what conditions to approve the renewal of authorisation of glyphosate. An open letter calls on the German Minister of Agriculture, Christian Schmidt, to vote against approval and thus to prevent further authorisation of glyphosate.

So far the German Federal Government has indicated to the Commission that, with some minor amendments to the original proposal, it will approve the re-authorisation of glyphosate. The European Commission now wants to restrict the renewal of authorisation to 10 years. In its proposal at the beginning of March renewal was for 15 years. The Dutch Council Presidency had called for a reduction of five year, the Greens asked for a complete ban.

Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt must say “No”

In an open letter the Greens Martin Häusling (a member of the European Parliament, spokesman for the Greens in the parliament and member of the environment committee) and Harald Ebner (member of the German Federal Parliament and spokesman of the party Bündnis90 Die Grünen for genetic engineering and bio-economic policy) call on Minister of Agriculture Schmidt to vote “NO” when the member states vote on renewal of approval of glyphosate in the EU. “Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt is in a position to operate the emergency brake and with a “No” from Germany to put a stop to the re-authorisation of glyphosate across the whole of the EU,” said Harald Ebner.

And he added: “We’re convinced that the minister has got more to gain politically than to lose by taking this action: it would prove that the opinion of the majority of consumers is more important to him than defending a risk assessment that has been shown to be questionable in many aspects. And he would also be setting standards in the EU that would be to the credit of Germany: if in doubt, think first of consumers and protection of the environment and health.” On 13 April 2016  the European Parliament voted with a big majority for a resolution calling for a new risk assessment, significant improvements and restrictions on the use of glyphosate.

If glyphosate falls, chemical-based agriculture will crumble

Comment by Martin Häusling: “The European Commission can’t make up its mind to ban glyphosate. The way it has formulated its ideas on how the use of glyphosate is to be regulated from July is far too weak. The EU Commission and the Federal Government are defending glyphosate tooth and nail because it’s an important pillar in chemical-based agriculture and if it falls the whole system of agro-industrial agriculture starts to crumble. Consumers have an increasingly critical view of the use of poisons in food production. The fact that in many cases there are alternatives to pesticides is demonstrated every day by organic farmers.”

EU Parliament wants to ban half of all applications

The European Parliament passed a resolution on 13 April 2016 that had been put forward by the Greens. A big majority agreed with the view that the Commission’s draft of an implementing regulation did not ensure a high level of protection for the health of humans and animals and regarding the environment, that the precautionary principle was not being observed and the implementing powers according to Regulation (EG) No. 1107/2009 were being exceeded.

All photos by Karin Heinze

The EU Parliament wants to enforce limits to the authorisation of glyphosate that would ban over half of all applications:

 - not to be sold to non-commercial users and no authorisation for non-professional use,

 - no authorisation for use in or near public parks, playgrounds or gardens,

 - no authorisation if other measures or systems of integrated plant protection for essential weed control can be used.

 - strict limits on the use of products containing glyphosate before harvesting