European ministers, who met on Friday in Brussels to discuss a series of compromise measures on licensing of genetically modified crops in the bloc, have failed to reach an agreement over GM policy going forward.

The compromise measures were put forward by current EU presidents Denmark after debates on GM licensing ground to a halt in 2010. Whilst some governments in Europe are pro-GM, many influential agricultural powers, notably France and Italy, are staunchly opposed to the system, citing moral and environmental concerns.

As a compromise the plans would have seen biotech companies agreeing to market their products only in countries which supported GM, with individual member states deciding for themselves whether they wanted to adopt the technology. Under the proposals, countries opposed to GM crops could invoke environmental or other clauses to prevent cultivation within their borders. However, the plans were criticised by environmentalists for not affording adequate protection to countries opposing GM.

As Friday’s debate resulted in failure to break the deadlock, with states on both sides of the argument refusing to comprise, the future of GM technology in Europe remains uncertain. Prior to the talks, Denmark had said that it would only pursue further negotiations if member states showed willingness to compromise.

In all, 10 member states vetoed the Danish proposals, including Britain, Germany, Spain and France. The states which chose not to support the compromise measures claimed, as had environmental campaigners, that they gave a lack of certainty over legal protection for states seeking to ban GM crops or that they risked upsetting the EU internal market.

After the debates, Danish environment minister Ida Auken stated that she would revisit the proposals at a meeting of EU environment ministers in June before deciding whether to abandon them for good.

Anti GM-environmental organisation Friends of the Earth stated that member states’ failure to reach an agreement on licensing could result in an influx of GM crops into the bloc. As the debate over licensing remains mired in stalemate, the commission may take charge of authorisations.

Friends of the Earth campaigners said they feared the pro-GM health and consumer affairs commissioner John Dalli would be free press ahead with authorisation of any of six outstanding applications for new GM crops in EU. Currently only Monsanto’s MON810 maize is legally allowed for cultivation in the EU. The GM maize is used for animal feed.

The organisation’s food campaigner Mute Schimpf, warned, "The pro-biotech Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli could now proceed with their authorisations, despite their unpopularity with consumers and concerns over their safety. Their failure creates a real danger that GM crops could now be authorised without any strong legal protection for those countries which want to ban them. Politicians need to listen to public opinion which is overwhelmingly opposed to GMOs."

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