Thanks for tweeting your MEPs! Citizens' voice should be heard during the free trade negotiations!!
The European Parliament has endorsed negotiations around the EU-US free trade agreement, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). This agreement threatens food safety in Europe by potentially opening Europe’s doors to a range of new GM crops. Find out more here.
A lot of European citizens want a GMO-free Europe and called on MEPs to prevent free trade talks from imposing unwanted GM crops on Europe. CEO and FoEE believe it is crucial that the negotiations are transparent and democratic. Thanks to all who contributed online!
The resolution approved by a majority of the Parliament includes a weak stance on GMOs as part of the EU-US trade negotiations – potentially allowing GM crops through the back door. The resolution “emphasises the sensitivity of certain fields of negotiation, such as the agricultural sector, where perceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), cloning and consumer health tend to diverge between the US and the EU.” It also “stresses that the agreement must not undermine the fundamental values of either side, for example the precautionary principle in the EU.”
The battle around these negotiations will be long and difficult, with the interests of big US and EU corporations competing with citizens' rights and environmental and food safety on both sides of the Atlantic.
The mandate for the negotiations will be endorsed by the European Council on the 18th of June. This trade deal is a unique opportunity for the biotech industry to achieve – through closed-door and opaque negotiations – what they’ve been unable to get in Europe in a democratic way.
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