EU/New genomic techniques: "We are going to vote against a bad agreement" (C. Clergeau, S&D)

Two weeks before the second reading vote in the ENVI Committee on 28/01/2026, Christophe Clergeau, shadow rapporteur for the S&D on the rules concerning new genomic techniques, has announced that his group will vote against the agreement reached in trilogue on NGTs on 04/12/2025.

"The provisional agreement that has been reached is bad regarding three major issues:
•the method used to classify NGT plants into categories 1 and 2,
•the abandonment of traceability throughout the NGT production chain (it will be limited to seeds, which means that consumers will not be able to distinguish NGT-derived products from others),
•the issue of patents has not been definitively resolved because of a lack of sufficient impact assessment by the European Commission", declared Christophe Clergeau on 14/01/2026.

"We are putting a disruptive technology on the European market, and the only traceability we require concerns seeds. There should have been appropriate labelling throughout the production process, right up to the consumer. Our concerns on the issue of patents relate to the risk of…