After a significant delay, the Commission has finally submitted to Parliament on Wednesday its proposal to renew the approval of glyphosate for another 10-years.

GUE/NGL is putting forward an objection to this proposal and will seek to have this voted by the European Parliament in the next plenary session.

The delayed submission means that MEPs have an exceptionally short deadline to propose their objection. The Commission’s Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed is expected to deliberate on the proposal by the end of the month.   

GUE/NGL MEP Kateřina Konečná, the group’s coordinator in the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), comments:

“I am submitting an objection on behalf of GUE/NGL to the Commission's proposal on the authorisation of glyphosate for another 10-years. The Commission's proposal is unacceptable because it is based on flawed scientific data that – as the Monsanto Papers confirmed – has been twisted to suit the interests of industry.”

“The Commission must listen to the voices of over a million EU citizens who signed the European Citizen's Initiative asking glyphosate to be banned from the market because of serious health and biodiversity concerns.”

“By submitting its proposal to Parliament only days before it is due to make a final decision on the authorisation, the Commission wants to avoid democratic scrutiny in the hopes it can get its proposal approved without noise.”

“We demand that the Commission applies the precautionary principle and considers the many warnings from credible scientific studies about the dangers of glyphosate,” Konečná concluded.