Philippe Martin, president of the General Council of Gers (France), is preparing proceedings before the EU’s Court of Justice for annulment of the European Commission’s decision to authorise the marketing in the Union of six varieties of GMO maize. The French Department of Gers accuses the Commission of infringing the precautionary principle and overstepping its rights by authorising substances without putting the matter to a vote by the European Parliament. The Commission approved, on 28 July, marketing of these varieties of genetically modified maize used for food and feed, given the member states’ failure to agree on a common position (see Europolitics 4030).

“I am carrying out a political action based on the idea of democracy, transparency and democratic scrutiny that surrounds this type of decision, in which the states are either completely absent or spectators,” added Martin, who heads a department that is highly organised against GMOs and very committed to organic farming.

In July, the French agriculture minister added T25 GMO to the official list of authorised seed in spite of the suspension of genetically modified crops in France since 2008. He stated that the authorisation concerned marketing but not cultivation of this maize variety.