[Gen-Streitfall] Fwd: [wtogmo] Info: EU's Lamy says Europe may ease access for GM foods]

[Cornelia Reetz]

Dies ist eine weitergeleitete Nachricht
Von    : Alexandra Wandel <alexandra.wandel at foeeurope.org>
An     : "wtogmo List Member" <cornelia at attac.de>
Datum  : Freitag, 19. März 2004, 12:34
Betreff: [wtogmo] Info:  EU's Lamy says Europe may ease access for GM foods]

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Dear friends,

below a very clear quote from EU Trade Commissioner Lamy

"There will be new authorizations," European Union Trade Commissioner 
Pascal Lamy told Reuters. "It has to be agreed by a majority of 
member nations but, in the end, it's the (European) Commission that 
decides."  

As foee we will continue to expose how the European Commission caves in under US and WTO pressure and 
that the EU must stand up to its citizens.

Alexandra


-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [SoS-WTO-EU] EU's Lamy says Europe may ease access for GM foods
Date:   Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:41:26 +0100
From:   Olivier Hoedeman <olivier at corporateeurope.org>
Organization:   Corporate Europe Observatory
To:     sos-wto-eu at yahoogroups.com



EU's Lamy says Europe may ease access for GM foods

Reuters, 03.17.04, 6:14 PM ET

By Gilbert Le Gras 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The European Union may grant access to more 
genetically modified foods from countries like Canada and the United 
States, a top EU official said on Wednesday.  

"There will be new authorizations," European Union Trade Commissioner 
Pascal Lamy told Reuters. "It has to be agreed by a majority of 
member nations but, in the end, it's the (European) Commission that 
decides."  

In 2003, the United States, backed by Canada and Argentina, 
challenged the EU's five-year ban on genetically modified foods and 
European farm ministers are set to meet next month to debate dropping 
the ban by authorizing a new biotech sweetcorn variety to be sold in 
shops.  

But the EU is also expected to enforce new rules on labeling GM foods 
and tracing that food from farm to table.  

Lamy said he would explain the EU policy to Canadian Trade Minister 
Jim Peterson during bilateral talks Thursday.  

Washington and U.S. agriculture groups are already complaining the 
European regulations will be too unwieldy. Farm groups have been 
looking at the possibility of a U.S. challenge to the rules before 
the World Trade Organization.  

U.S. Agriculture Undersecretary J.B. Penn told reporters Wednesday 
that Washington will soon decide whether a legal challenge will go 
ahead.  

Meanwhile, trade negotiators from around the world resume talks in 
Geneva next week on the so-called Doha Development round after last 
September's stalemate in Cancun, Mexico.  

Lamy said the focus of the talks would be on agriculture, industrial 
tariffs, development issues and trade facilitation in preparation for 
a general meeting of the WTO in May.  

"We won't sew this thing up (in May) but there are reasonable chances 
we can present something reasonable to the member states then," he 
said.  

If so, then there would be a window of opportunity to agree to broad 
terms of global trade liberalization before the end of August, before 
the U.S. presidential election campaign enters its final stretch and 
year-end changes in European Union jobs, he added.  

Copyright 2004, Reuters News Service

********************************** 

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is 
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-- 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
alexandra wandel
trade and sustainability programme co-ordinator
friends of the earth europe (FoEE)
15, rue blanche (NEW number)
B-1050 Brussels (NEW postal code!)
fon: +32 2 542 01 89 (direct).
http://www.foeeurope.org and http://www.foei.org


don't let the WTO tell you what to eat - BITE BACK!!  www.bite-back.org 




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