Towards the start of the trilogue on GMO deregulation?
On 14 March 2025, the Member States of the European Union achieved a fragile qualified majority to launch a discussion with the European Commission and the European Parliament on the deregulation of GMOs. It took the member states almost two years to reach this majority, as there are still many disagreements. Negotiations between the three European decision-making bodies – known as a “trilogue” – could now get underway, subject to the vote of a final formal mandate by the European Parliament’s Environment Committee.
The European Commission wants its “biotech revolution”
In March 2024, the European Commission announced measures aimed at driving what it called a “biotechnology revolution”, including a proposal for a “law” in 2025. This announcement came at a time when a number of legislative dossiers relating to biotechnology had already reached an impasse, such as the deregulation of plant GMOs. As Denmark, a fervent supporter of biotechnology, prepares to take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU from July 2025, is the Commission planning to bring everything together in a general “biotech law” to complicate political debates and force the issue through? The European Parliament has just taken up the issue on its own initiative.
Copa-Cogeca’s ambiguities on the issue of plant patents
For a year and a half, the Council of the European Union has been unable to reach an agreement on the deregulation of GMOs, mainly because of the problems posed by patents on those GMOs or on the techniques used to obtain them. According to Copa-Cogeca, those two issues should be dealt with separately. Its proposal is to adopt the deregulation of GMOs as quickly as possible and postpone the study of the problem posed by patents. Even if it means forgetting that farmers are indeed affected by patents.
Novonesis, a new Danish industrial giant promoting “biosolutions”?
In January 2024, two Danish industrial giants of the microorganisms merged and Novonesis was born. This company sells “biosolutions” for all industrial and agricultural areas. “Bio” for biotechnological… and not biological, as it prefers to emphasize. This company uses microorganisms, often genetically modified, to make them produce enzymes.