BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT WALKS A TIGHT ROPE ON GMOS

UNCLAS SOFIA 000105

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD TBIO ENVT BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT WALKS A TIGHT ROPE ON GMOS


1. (SBU) Summary: A draft law that would bring Bulgaria's
current restrictive biotechnology regime into EU compliance
has been seized upon by anti-GMO groups. As a result, as a
tactical response, the government is proposing, as a
supplement to the draft law, a five-year moratorium on
releasing GMO products into the environment or for farming
purposes. The government expects that once the new
legislation is passed, the European Commission will view the
moratorium as a delay in the implementation of the law and
Bulgaria will be forced to lift it or face sanctions,
something the cash-strapped government is keen to avoid. End
Summary.


2. (SBU) The current law on GMOs, passed in 2005, has some
of the most restrictive biotechnology legislation in Europe.
Bulgarian law bans almost all forms of biotech field
experiments on crops such as rose, tobacco, vine, all
vegetables, and wheat. The law is not in compliance with two
European directives concerning contained use or laboratory
work and field trials and commercial growing. To bring
Bulgaria into EU compliance, the Ministry of Environment and
Water proposed a draft law that introduces the EU principle
of case-by-case and science-based approaches for field
trials, and removes the bans, as well as the 30 kilometer
buffer zone surrounding the field trials.


3. (SBU) The Bulgarian Green Movement and other opponents of
biotechnology immediately launched a campaign against the
draft law. Under heavy pressure to amend the draft
legislation, the current government suggested adding a
five-year moratorium for releasing GMO products into the
environment or for farming purposes. Minister of Agriculture
Miroslav Naydenov admitted in a meeting with Ambassador
February 11 that this moratorium is a tactical approach in
order to achieve the strategic goal of passing the draft law.
He expected that once the new legislation is passed, the
European Commission would view the moratorium as a delay in
the implementation of the law and Bulgaria would be forced to
lift it. In Naydenov's view, it would be easier to lift a
moratorium under pressure from the EC than to change the
legislation.


4. (SBU) Comment: Thanks to an aggressive, well-organized
and funded green movement, GMOs have been turned into
Bulgaria's new four-letter word. The government is walking a
tight rope. Faced with severe penalties if EU legislation is
not brought into compliance on one hand, and an alarmed
public that has bought into anti-GMO rhetoric on the other,
the government is trying to find middle ground. If Naydenov
is correct, and the EC ultimately forces Bulgaria to lift the
proposed moratorium, the government will have the excuse it
needs to finally liberalize Bulgaria's biotech regime. But
it will be a tough fight.

WARLICK