Photo of the Seimas Office (author Džoja Gunda Barysaitė)

The Economics, Energy and Innovation Committee and the Natural Resources and Environment Committee of the Baltic Assembly (BA) continued their work in Kaunas, Lithuania. The event took place in Aleksandras Stulginskis University.

The impact of the Russian embargo on the Baltic economies was discussed in the first part of the meeting.

The key item on the agenda in the second part of the meeting was the regulation of genetically modified organisms in the Baltic States and the EU. The key note speakers featured Neringa Šarkauskienė, Chief Specialist of the Nature Protection Division, Ministry of Environment of Lithuania, and Saulius Jasius, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Production and Food Industry, Ministry of Agriculture of Lithuania.

Ms Šarkauskienė informed that there were four institutions in charge of GMO policy implementation, namely, the Ministry of Environment (governing institution), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the State Food and Veterinary Service. The representative of the Ministry of Environment also named the legal acts regulating the order for GMO cultivation in EU Member States and the principle Lithuanian legislation regulating GMO cultivation in the territory of Lithuania. Ms Šarkauskienė noted that particular attention should be paid to the prevention of cross-border contamination from a Member State where cultivation was allowed into a neighbouring Member State where it was prohibited.

Mr Jasius discussed the EU directive which provides for the possibility for the Member States to prohibit the cultivation of GMOs in their territory. The speaker said that prohibition of GMO cultivation could occur on the basis of certain grounds such as the common environmental policy goals; avoidance of GMO use in other products; spatial planning; and cultural policy. A standstill period lasting until 3 October 2015 has been established for Member States during which they can adopt restrictions on GMO cultivation in their territory to those GMOs that have already been authorised or are in the course of the authorisation procedure.

Both of the speakers informed that Lithuania had already taken the opportunities provided by the directive and, through the European Commission, presented its demands to the applicants as regards the prohibition of the cultivation of certain GMOs in its territory for the purpose of ensuring proper implementation of the interests of Lithuanian farmers and consumers.

Mr Jasius also noted that the Member States that would make use of the provision to prohibit genetically modified food and feed, provided for in the new draft of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on genetically modified food and feed, which is currently under consideration, would have to face conditions of unequal and unfair competition in comparison to those Members States that would have not made the same choice.

Vilius Martusevičius, Vice-minister of Agriculture of Lithuania, delivered the report on the implementation of BA recommendations in the agricultural sector. The Vice-minister, just like the majority of the participants, stressed the necessity to promote cooperation between the Baltic States. Therefore, he highlighted the significance of penetration into new markets given the existing situation caused by the Russian embargo. However, Mr Martusevičius argued that individually Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were not capable of offering a sufficient amount of Baltic products to large markets. Therefore, a possibility of cooperation at lower costs would have great significance. He believed it would be reasonable to discuss the need for a common brand representing to foreign markets the agricultural production of the whole region or a group of countries.

While he recognised that the agricultural sector of the Baltic States is going through difficult times, the Vice-minister also presented some examples of good cooperation that had already brought tangible benefits. Moreover, he expressed his appreciation of the effective cooperation in the fields of science, food and veterinary safety, and implementation of rural development programmes. 

 

For more information, see the websites of the Seimas and the Baltic Assembly. 

 

Jolanta Anskaitienė, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, tel. +370 5 239 6508, mob. +370 699 04 243, e-mail: [email protected]