Cablegate: French Press Reaction to the Wto Biotech Ruling

null
Lucia A Keegan 10/11/2006 09:53:09 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

Cable
Text:

UNCLAS SENSITIVE PARIS 06641

SIPDIS
cxparis:
ACTION: AGR
INFO: ECON TRDO UNESCO SCI POL ECNO DCM AMB

DISSEMINATION: AGRX
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: AGR: EBERRY
DRAFTED: AGR: MCHENARD
CLEARED: ECON: JHENNESSEY-NILAND SCI:RDRY

VZCZCFRI514
RR RUEHC RUEHRC RUCNMEM RUEHMRE RUEHSR RUEHGV
RHEHAAA
DE RUEHFR #6641 2781620
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051620Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2000
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHMRE/AMCONSUL MARSEILLE 1355
RUEHSR/AMCONSUL STRASBOURG 0195
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2503
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC

UNCLAS PARIS 006641

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

BRUSSELS PASS USEU FOR AGMINCOUNSELOR
STATE FOR OES; EUR/ERA AND EB (SPIRNAK);
STATE PASS USTR FOR MURPHY;
USDA/OS/JOHANNS/TERPSTRA;
USDA/FAS FOR OA/YOST/SIMMONS/JONES;
ITP/SHEIKH/MACKE/TOM POMEROY/MIKE WOOLSEY/GREG YOUNG; BOB
RIEMENSCHNEIDER
FAA/SEBRANEK/DEVER;
EU POSTS PASS TO AGRICULTURE AND ECON
GENEVA FOR USTR, ALSO AGRICULTURE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ETRD EU FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH PRESS REACTION TO THE WTO BIOTECH RULING

REF: (A) Paris 6159; (B) Paris 5262; (C) Paris 2439

1.(SBU) Summary: French media reaction to the WTO panel ruling on
the biotech case has been muted but objective. The French
Government will wait for the EU's decision whether to appeal the
decision before taking any further action on its biotech ban. End
Summary.

2. (U) The French media has reacted objectively to the release of
the WTO's final ruling on the case filed by the U.S., Canada and
Argentina against the EU's de facto moratorium on approving
agricultural biotech products and other EU Member States' (MS) bans
on biotech products approved by the EC.

3. (U) All press articles, whether in the popular or agricultural
press, underlined that the WTO did not sanction the EU for its
moratorium as it found this has already been lifted, but focused on
the MS bans, as being inconsistent with SPS rules. The French press
generally viewed the WTO ruling as balanced. Several French papers
also commented that the WTO did not reach a conclusion on the safety
of biotech products.

4. (SBU) The French press did not comment on the fact that France's
ban on two varieties of GM rapeseed was among those cited by the WTO
or that France will have to come into conformity with the WTO
ruling. France's ban on two varieties of biotech rapeseed,
formalized in decrees published in the French Official Journal
(equivalent to the U.S. Federal Register), was set for renewal this
month. However, French MinAg sources report that the French
government will not take any action before the EU decides whether to
file an appeal to the WTO panel decision. Of interest, the
varieties of biotech rapeseed banned by the French government are
unlikely to appeal to French farmers as the products are outdated,
and GM canola would not provide the clear agronomic and economic
advantages that GM corn does.

Stapleton

© Scoop Media