Bulgaria stands categorically against the cultivation of GMO Maize in Europe.

After lengthy debates in the European institutions regarding the

cultivation of genetically modified maize (GM Maize) in EU Member

States, the case was sent to the EU Court of Justice, which ruled that

the prohibition on the use and marketing of genetically modified

organisms, such as MON 810 GM Maize, was not supported by EU laws.

In late 2013 the EC invited Bulgaria to lift the ban on the

cultivation of GM Maize as the prohibition was allegedly based on an

incorrect legal ruling. In early 2014, the EC informed Bulgaria of the

launch of infringement proceedings under Art. 258 of the Treaty on the

Functioning of the EU. To this regard, the Bulgarian Ministry of

Agriculture prepared a draft for the Council of Ministers Decision

amending the Decision of Council of Ministers on February 3, 2011 to ban

the cultivation of genetically modified maize MON 810 on the territory

of Bulgaria.

Bulgarian Agriculture Minister Prof. Dimitar Grekov said that the ban on GMOs in Bulgaria will not be canceled!

Bulgaria has no need for GMO crops, he added. According to him, local

agricultural models are well adapted to the climate and soil conditions

and have a high ecological plasticity, a broad genetic base and also

have a very good set of cultivation and uses.

“Local varieties are a valuable source of genetic variability. In the

cultivation of genetically modified and conventional maize (hybrid or

local variety) at distances from each other less than those provided for

in the current Bulgarian law on GMOs, there is a theoretical risk for

the population of conventional corn to be genetically ‘contaminated’

with transgenes,” Minister Grekov categorically stated.

Despite the ban on the cultivation of GMOs in Bulgaria, during the

past few years there have been large areas of farmland contaminated with

GM Maize imported from Romania.

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