Despite the fact that the majority of European Union member states voted against approving the genetically modified Pioneer 1507 maize strain on Tuesday, the proportion of votes against was not enough to ensure the blocking of the approval process, meaning it is now up to the European Commission to decide on the issue, Minister of State for EU Affairs Enikő Győri, who was present at the vote, told Hungarian reporters in Brussels following the meeting.

Even though 19 member states voted to reject authorisation of the GM maize and only five voted to support it, with four abstentions, the fact that abstentions are taken to be votes in favour of authorisation means that the supermajority required to block the process from going to a new stage was lacking the issue will now be considered by the Commission, she said.

The European Commission must request the opinion of individual committees, which is in turn based on the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA)’s assessment. If these are in favour, the commission may go ahead and issue authorisation, the Hungarian Minister of State said.

Ms Győri called the procedure an “absurd drama”. “What has taken place here today is throwing away national sovereignty and the principle of subsidiarity,” she said. The Hungarian Minister of State also recalled that the Commission adopted a position publicly stating that they would not block the distribution of the Pioneer 1507 GM maize crop for the EU market if the Council was unable to pass a decision on the issue. The commission is at liberty to withdraw the proposal for authorisation, but “it interprets regulations differently,” Ms Győri said.

“Hungary rejects GMO production” regardless of how the Commission decides, the Hungarian Minister of State stated. Hungary will not issue any authorization for the distribution of GMO products, she added.
Enikő Győri also mentioned that she had written an opinion piece on the GMO issue, which appeared in European Voice online on 11 February but was soon revoked. She wondered why that had happened and who could have ordered the revoking of an article that criticised GMO production.

For Ms Győri's article on the subject please click here.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)