It’s moving into the end game for the renewal of one of the most commonly used chemicals on Irish farms Roundup.
Last week a vote was called off in Brussels on the re-authorisation of glyphosate the key ingredient in Monsanto’s well-known Roundup product as the European Commission said that it would not proceed to a vote without a solid qualified majority of Member States.
EU Member States had been in talks for a significant period on the issue of renewing glyphosate, however since it was obvious that no qualified majority would have been reached, a vote was not held last week.
A Commission spokesperson said that the Commission will reflect on the outcome of the discussions.
If no decision is taken before June 30, the chemical will be no longer authorised in the EU and Member States will have to withdraw authorisations for all glyphosate-based products, the spokesperson said.
This morning POLITICO are reporting that Commission has given EU countries two options in what could be a final bid to renew the product.
The first option it reports is the renewal for one to two years, the expected time for a safety assessment to be carried out.  However, the second option, according to POLITICO is could be for the Commission to simply do nothing and let the June 30 deadline for reauthorization come and go.
In this scenario, it says after a six-month grace period, all products containing glyphosate would have to be pulled from the EU market.
It is understood that 19 countries are in favour of glyphosate renewal, while six other Member States have not decided on a stance for the chemical’s renewal.
