The Greens of Serbia have protested after moves to declare the country GM-free were rejected in Parliament.

Environmentalists in Serbia protested last week after MPs refused to endorse a popularly supported declaration on GM-free Serbia into Wednesday's parliamentary agenda.

Ivan Karic, president of the Serbian Green Party, applied for the declaration to be included in the parliamentary session as a precursor to introducing anti-GM legislation, but was rebuffed. A petition signed by 36,000 citizens was submitted in February, calling on local and national leaders to support a Serbia free from genetically modified crops.

However, although the initiative has widespread public appeal and 48 municipalities and cities in Serbia have been declared GM-free by their local governments, the Green Party declaration only received the support of 65 MPs last week.

Karic's Green Party said, "The state of Serbia should immediately strengthen the institutions and procedures necessary for the rigorous, complete and quality control of GMOs and GMO products." The party wants to see legislative support for the local governments' pledges; the greens added, "Green Serbia does not see any rational and economically justified reason for GMOs. Serbia must protect itself against the interests of big companies."

In a statement, the party continued, "We must bear in mind that 50 million citizens of the European Union every day look for environmentally friendly and organic products. Greens of Serbia believe that the future of local agriculture in the production of high-quality, healthy and safe food for their own and the EU market, and this is possible only if the Serbian territory without GMOs."

The party pointed out that, of the world's 240 sovereign countries, only 37 have accepted World Trade Organization (WTO) conditions on the liberalisation of genetically modified organisms. The green party claims the conditions amount to "Blackmail."

Last month the European Commission recommended setting a target for negotiations with Serbia over accession into the EU.