The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is pushing to relax the rules for genetic techniques in plant breeding. New methods, such as the Crispr/Cas9 gene editor, which was awarded the Nobel Prize for its development, are intended to make agriculture more climate-friendly and productive, according to the party’s will.
The liberal parliamentary group has submitted a motion, reported by the “Spiegel”, calling on the government to “establish scientific frameworks for new breeding methods, tap the potential of new technologies, and enable innovation”. Germany is expected to take a leading role in the research and development of new breeding methods in the future.
The new method is also expected to be taken into account in the EU’s agricultural policy. The backdrop of the debate is the EU Commission’s proposals, which aim to relax the rules for new plant varieties that have no connection to the classical, criticized genetic engineering. This effort was previously blocked by the Greens. “Unfortunately, the Green Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir has consistently torpedoed every attempt at the European level to enable innovation” said FDP faction leader Carina Konrad.