Germany is set to abstain in an EU Council vote next week, as the country’s farming and environment ministers have disagreed over the correct course of action to take on controversial herbicide glyphosate. The two ministries are run by different political parties, which are at odds over the glyphosate issue.

Glyphosate - the world’s most widely used herbicide - is currently the subject of intense debate, and differing scientific pronouncements on it have led to a dispute between watchdogs from the European Union (Commission health agency EFSA) and the World Health Organisation (Cancer research body IARC). Although glyphosate manufacturers maintain that, when used correctly, the herbicide is safe, IARC last year found that the product is “probably carcinogenic” to humans. A subsequent opinion published by EFSA reached the opposite conclusion, sparking a spat over methodology (IARC looked at glyphosate as it is sold in products, whereas EFSA looked at the compound in isolation).

Member State representatives will meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels to discuss the future of glyphosate in the European Union, after the EU Parliament agreed to compromise terms last month. Although the Parliament recommended relicensing glyphosate for use in Europe, MEPs agreed that the product should be restricted to professional use only, and the relicensing should be for a shorter period than that initially proposed by the Commission (seven years, rather than 15).

Since the Parliament vote, the Commission has produced new draft legislation, which will be up for discussion next week.

The EU license for glyphosate, which is off-patent and is manufactured by several companies, is set to expire at the end of June. The Commission has produced the new proposals in order to avoid creating a legal vacuum when the glyphosate license runs out. However, European Green MEPs who have seen the proposals have been highly critical of the Commission’s plans, claiming they do not take into account the huge amount of controversy (and therefore public engagement) that the spat between IARC and EFSA has brought to the issue.

On Thursday, the Greens said, “It is hugely irresponsible to want to prolong the authorisation of glyphosate for nine more years,” as per the Commission’s new plans.