EU governments have failed to reach agreement on extending the use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate for another decade, after France joined several countries in abstaining from a vote on the matter.
The bloc’s 27 member states voted Friday on whether to renew the use of glyphosate – the most widely used herbicide in the EU and an active ingredient in Bayer AG’s Roundup weedkiller – for another 10 years.
A "qualified majority" of 15 countries representing at least 65 percent of the bloc's population had been required either to support or to block the proposal.
In the end there was no qualified majority either way, the European Commission said in a statement.
Austria, which banned glyphosate use in 2019, joined Luxembourg and Croatia in voting against. France, Bulgaria, Belgium, Germany, Malta and the Netherlands abstained.
French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said he was not opposed to glyphosate per se, but opposed the “renewal without conditions” as drafted in the EU Commission’s proposal.
France wants the EU to limit the use of glyphosate to instances where there is no viable alternative.
“It does not correspond to the path France has taken for several years … in trying to restrict use where there are alternatives,” Fesneau said, pointing to the country's 27 percent reduction in glyphosate use in 2022 compared to the 2015-2017 period.
By abstaining, France showed there could be “no ban without a viable alternative” but also disagreement over the commission’s drafting of the proposal.
Health risks
Glyphosate has long been contencious due to its potential links to cancer and adverse effects on plants and animals.
This week a French family revealed it was receiving €1,000 a month from a French compensation fund, after scientific experts established a causal link between the mother's exposure to glyphosate when she was pregnant and her son's birth defects.
In 2015, the World Health Organization's cancer research agency concluded that glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic" to humans. But other agencies around the world, including the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the European Chemicals Agency, have classified glyphosate as non-carcinogenic.
The campaign group Pesticides Action Network says there were serious question marks about the safety assessments, adding that most citizens polled in six EU countries believe glyphosate should be banned.
Following Friday’s deadlock, EU governments will vote again in November. If there is still no clear opinion, the decision will be left to the European Commission itself.
A decision is needed by 14 December, the day before its current approval expiresy.
