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Coalition Agreement: Positive signals for "Ohne Gentechnik" and consumers
Alexander Hissting, Managing Director of the Association for Food without Genetic Engineering (VLOG), states:
"The coalition agreement certainly contains positive signals for the GMO-free food industry and for consumers. It was to be expected that it would also mention the opportunities offered by new genetic engineering and that its use would be ‘facilitated by regulation’. What is more important for us, however, is that transparency, precaution and self-determination for consumers are explicitly addressed. In doing so, the CDU-CSU and SPD coalition is basically committing itself to the minimum requirement of a complete labelling obligation for new genetic engineering.
If the current Bavarian Minister of Agriculture Michaela Kaniber (CSU) will become the new German Minister of Agriculture, this coalition agreement will provide her with a good basis for implementing the ‘mandatory labelling of plants and products of all categories of NGTs’, which she explicitly supports.
A cautious approach to genetic engineering has been part of the political DNA of CSU politicians for decades. Michaela Kaniber could seamlessly follow in the footsteps of her predecessor and party colleague Ilse Aigner, who launched the government-initiated ‘Ohne GenTechnik’ (Non-GMO) seal in 2009.
On the basis of this coalition agreement, the future German government cannot support completely unrestrained deregulation of genetic engineering, as the EU Commission and the narrow majority in the Council of Ministers have so far advocated."
Excerpts from the coalition agreement relating to genetic engineering
- "Biotechnology will be promoted as a key industry and its applications will be facilitated in regulatory terms, also with regard to the new genomic techniques."
- "We are creating practical regulations and streamlined procedures and are open to innovation. We protect the self-determined consumer comprehensively and proactively."
- "Our policy is based on a differentiated perception of the consumer. Consumers should be able to make their own decisions. We support them with strong rights, transparency and information, advice and education, protection and provision."
Responsibility for Germany. Coalition Agreement 2025 between CDU, CSU and SPD (German)