Greens / Efa Priority

Food

Good food is political. Everybody should have the opportunity to choose healthy food. The Greens consistently struggle for consumer rights and transparency in the food supply chain and invite you to join us in pushing for a GMO-free Europe.

©jeremy ricketts

MEPs call for stricter rules on palm oil

Palm oil and rainforest deforestation

For the first time, Members of the European Parliament have called for stricter rules on the import of palm oil. For the Greens/EFA group, this represents a step forward on how to protect the world’s rainforests from the devastation caused by reckless palm oil production.

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Palm oil and deforestation of rainforests

Plenary speech by MEP Benedek Jávor

The European Parliament is showing the way forward on how to help protect the world’s rainforests from the devastation currently being caused by reckless palm oil production

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chuttersnap

GM maize for cultivation

The Commission must accept the appeal committee’s vote and refuse new authorizations

With a clear majority of Member States voting against the cultivation of three GM maize varieties within the EU on Monday 27 March, it should now be clear to the European Commission that it is time to withdraw its proposals. But is the Commission paying attention?

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Food campaign - The Greens/EFA in the EP

GMOs fail to secure support of Member States

GMO maize appeal vote

The European Commission should withdraw its proposals, and focus its energy on developing a safer and more sustainable agriculture, says Bart Staes.

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© Alexandra Buxbaum / Greenpeace

European Commission must put citizens' health first

Glyphosate

On a Greens/EFA initiative, a cross-party group of MEPs has written to the European Commission, expressing concern about the studies being used in the assessment of the safety of the controversial herbicide, glyphosate.

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CCBY Lindsay Eyink

The European Commission is tabling science fiction legislation on GMOs

20 types of GM maize have been proposed for authorisation in feed and food... some of them do not even exist yet!

The European Commission is proposing to authorise a new GM maize developed by Syngenta that contains up to 20 types. This means that a single authorisation could lead to a 20-fold increase in the amount of GM maize in our food and feed.

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©freestocks-org

European Parliament wants to ban import of new GM maize

GMOs

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has voted against the import of a range of genetically modified maize varieties for use in feed and food. The majority of MEPs voted against the European Commission's proposal to authorize several Genetic Engineering Maize varieties from Syngenta.

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©antonio-grosz

Greens/EFA Round up

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 13-16 March 2017

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary included: Mercury rules; Gender equality: still a long way to go on equality; Arctic policy; Animal welfare; Firearms control; LuxLeaks appeal verdict; Official controls in the food chain; Shareholders' rights; Conclusions of the European Council/Rome Declaration; Conflict minerals; Fishing sector data collection.

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Oregon Department of Agriculture (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

ECHA opinion doesn't answer all the questions on glyphosate

Glyphosate

There remain a range of reasons as to why glyphosate is at odds with a healthy and sustainable agriculture. Not only does the chemical target the weeds it is supposed to kill, but it also harms surrounding plants and wildlife, making it a real threat to biodiversity. The issue of pesticide-resistant crops also poses increasing problems for animals and the environment.

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Streamlined legislation will help improve consumer confidence

Food controls

New regulations on the official controls of food and feed law will help to ensure the uniform application of agri-food chain rules across the EU. The changes are in part a response to the horse meat scandal, in which the Greens/EFA group was instrumental in helping to bring any future wrongdoing into the open.

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CC0 Noah Silliman / Unspalsh

Rabbits and animal welfare

No to factory farming!

The European Parliament adopted Tuesday 14 March a report on minimum standards for the Protection of Farm Rabbits 2016/2077(INI) calling for specific legislation on minimum standards. Animal welfare is of a very high priority for the Greens/EFA group.

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© Don Bayley

Radioactive contamination of water and food

EU protection rules still decided behind closed doors

Many of the current nuclear reactors in the world are the result of technological choices of people who are not necessarily alive anymore. Yet the consequences of those choices affect people today all around the world, as well as generations to come, far beyond political borders and timeframes.

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