Brussels. – Last Wednesday afternoon, after more than three years of negotiations, the three EU Institutions – the Commission, the Council and the Parliament – came to a provisional agreement on the European organic regulation. The text will now go under the scrutiny of the Member States and the Parliament.
IFOAM EU President Christopher Stopes said: “We acknowledge the huge effort made by the Commission, the Parliament and the Council Presidency to improve the text. In the last 15 days, progress was made, but we regret that the process was rushed to be finalised and discussions on important political points were postponed.”
He added: “If stakeholders would have been involved in the initial phase of the review, in a stronger and more transparent way, the process could have been smoother and the text would have better been suited to the needs of organic consumers and the organic movement.”
Sabine Eigenschink, IFOAM EU Board Vice President for Regulation and Certification said: “The main concerns of the organic movement were repeatedly communicated to the institutions involved in the trilateral negotiations. We will now evaluate the technical consistency of the text, the way it can be implemented, and the impact it will have on organic operators and the control procedures in the EU and in third countries. Up to two days ago the text was bringing little added value compared to the current legislation. We would like to see a regulation that supports the development of organic food and farming sector in all EU countries including those which did not support last Monday’s proposal.”
Further information in www.ifoam-eu.org
