The European Commission will propose next week to temporarily extend the authorisation of glyphosate, in an attempt to break the political deadlock around the widely used pesticide.

Food safety commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said at a press conference Wednesday “We propose a prolongation for 12 to 18 months”

"I want to stress again that the EU's authorisation procedure as regards pesticides is the strictest in the world. It takes years of scientific assessment before an active substance is authorised – or renewed at EU level. Our scientific process is very stringent and relies on pooling of expertise between the European Food Safety Authority and all 28 Member States.

"Our proposals and decisions on glyphosate were based on the guided assessment done by EFSA and before it - German Federal institute for Risk Assessment (Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung). They both concluded that Glyphosate is unlikely to be carcinogenic. Since last autumn, my services have been discussing with the Member States the best way forward on the renewal of glyphosate in the Expert Committee. We have been aiming at a solution that commands the widest possible support of the Member States."

However, although European scrutiny has given glyphosate a relatively clean bill of health, the World Health Organisation's cancer research arm (IARC) last year classified the herbicide as a probable human carcinogen, following a review which looked at the herbicide as it is found on the market, and took huge care to ensure that the assessment was transparent and free from conflict of interest. This classification has caused concern amongst Member State governemnts, and notably French ministers, who have opposed the Commission's relicensing plans until there is greater clarification about health impacts and studies used to inform EFSA's decision on glyphosate, but not made publicly available or etended to IARC experts, have been published in full.

According to the Commission, a majority of Member States is in favour of the renewal but no qualified majority has been reached. The EU executive claims it has made "efforts to accommodate requests and concerns from a number of national governments," as well as from the European Parliament (which voted to support a shorter renewal than that proposed by the Commission, albeit with hefty restrictions on glyphosate use). Even so, after last month's EU Council vote was postponed - the second time the Commission had failed to keep a qualified majority of member states onside ahead of a vote on glyphosate, French environment minister Segolene Royale said the government would continue to support IARC's conclusions and oppose the relicensing, adding that she had spoken to similarly minded counterparts in the German, Italian, Swedish, Austrian and Portugese governments.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Andriukaitis acknowledged, "Some Member States have been reluctant to take a position," but added,  "I believe it is important to clarify that once an active substance is approved – or renewed at EU level – it is then up to Member States to authorise the final products (the herbicides and pesticides themselves) put on their respective markets. The EU approval of an active substance only means that the Member States can authorise plant protection products on their territory, but they are not obliged to do that."

"The Member States who wish not to use glyphosate based products have the possibility to restrict their use. They do not need to hide behind the Commission's decision. However, if there is no EU approval, Member States have no choice anymore: the authorisation expires on the 1^st of July. Should there be no extension, Member States would have to withdraw the authorisations for plant protection products containing glyphosate from their market."

The Commission has called an expert Committee meeting for Monday 6^th of June to discuss the file once again and take the vote on the basis of a limited extension of the current approval, until ECHA opinion dispels the remaining doubts. Andriukaitis said, "Indeed, under the EU law, the last word belongs to the ECHA (European Union's Agency for Chemical Products), this is why the Commission proposes to ask ECHA for its scientific assessment on the carcinogenicity of the glyphosate and to extend the current approval of glyphosate until it receives ECHA's opinion."

The Commission is also recommending:

• A ban on co-formulant POE-tallowamine from glyphosate based products;
• Minimising the herbicide's use in public parks, public playgrounds and gardens;
• Minimising the pre-harvest use of glyphosate. (the EU Parliament voted in favour of banning these last two pratices in April)

Although the Commission hs said its proposal is to provide a bridging period until ECHA delivers its result, Greenpeace has accused the EU executive of seeking political backing to allow unrestricted use of controversial weedkiller glyphosate by labelling the decision as temporary.

Greenpeace EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg commented, “It's good to see that the Commission is no longer pushing for a final decision based on questionable safety assurances by the EU food safety agency. But whether the licence is for 15, nine or two years doesn't change anything in the real world. The same amount of glyphosate will be sprayed in parks, playgrounds and private gardens, and in our fields, vineyards and apple groves. Glyphosate levels in our bodies won’t change either. The Commission must take on board the concerns raised by independent scientists, the European Parliament and citizens by – at the very least – applying strict restrictions to limit human exposure."