Hungarian opposition: Hungary GMO-free status at risk

Hungary’s GMO-free status continues to be at risk despite a recent vote in the EU’s Agriculture and Fisheries Council rejecting draft legislation which would exempt new genomic techniques (NGTs) from strict GMO regulations, the co-leader of green opposition LMP said on Thursday.

The proposal backed by chemical industry lobbyists failed in a first round of voting on Monday, Erzsébet Schmuck told an online press briefing. “But that lobby is aggressively pushing its agenda and wants to have another round of voting held on the exemption before Christmas, and it has found several politicians as allies in those efforts,” she said.

If passed with a qualified majority, the legislation would scrap the labelling requirement of products, Schmuck said. As a result, farmers, traders and consumers would no longer be able to choose GMO-free products, she said. “Control over seed production would also end up in the hands of agribusiness players, which would seriously jeopardise the autonomy of farmers and agricultural biodiversity,” Schmuck said.

She called on all Hungarian MEPs and decision-makers to stand up for maintaining a strict and comprehensive GMO regulation, regardless of their party affiliation.

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LMP asks president not to sign construction act

Opposition LMP has asked President Katalin Novák not to sign the law on construction approved on Tuesday by the ruling parties in parliament, the party’s national board leader said.

Örs Tetlák told an online press conference today that LMP is also initiating a constitutional review of the law.

Tetlak said LMP had previously initiated a referendum against the law on priority investments which the National Election Committee rejected but a recent decision by the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, approved.

However, the ruling parties have amended sections of the law affected by the referendum and transferred them to the law on construction, he said. He added that the ruling parties had “used an embarrassing and obvious trick” with this move.