Following a discussion this morning with Vytenis Andriukaitis, the Commissioner for health and food safety, Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament voiced their rejection to his proposal to re-authorise glyphosate for ten years without any specific restrictions.

S&D spokesperson on glyphosate, Pavel Poc MEP, said:

"This is completely unacceptable. I am shocked to see that the Commission is totally ignoring European citizens and favouring the industry, especially when it comes to use in public areas, non-professional uses and misuse of this widely used substance.

"The contrasting assessments by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the WHO agency (IARC) on the safety of glyphosate show the need to revise the whole authorisation process for pesticides in the EU in favour of more transparency, efficiency and democratic control."

S&D spokesperson on health and environment, Matthias Groote MEP, said:

"The decision by the Parliament cannot be ignored. Last week we passed a resolution which was already very balanced: it restricted the use of glyphosate for seven years, and only to those cases where no alternative methods exist, but banned it in pre-harvest agricultural use, in public parks and in playgrounds.

"This Parliament exercised its controlling function, based on the precautionary principle. Today we told the Commissioner to respect this principle and to listen to the citizens."