Yet again, the European Commission has postponed a vote on extending the registration of glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seeds-to-herbicide program. The EU Council’s expert committee was poised to vote on the extension on May 19 but without the assured consent of the market’s biggest European countries, France and Germany, the measure had no chance of passing.

The current license to use glyphosate in the 28 EU member states expires at the end of June. French president, Francois Hollande, said from the outset that France would vote against an extension. In a last-minute decision, Germany said it planned to abstain for a second time, as the two governing coalition partners could not agree.

While the Christian Democrats, the party of Chancellor Angela Merkel, were in favor of the extension, the Social Democratic party was opposed. "Since it was obvious that no qualified majority would have been reached, a vote was not held," a Commission spokeswoman told the news agency Reuters.

After a first vote was canceled in March, the Commission shortened the proposed licensing period to nine years from 15. The European Parliament had suggested an extension for seven years with stipulations that glyphosate not be used by the general public.

The latest postponement follows diverging findings on the carcinogenic risks of the herbicide by expert bodies in particular within the World Health Organization (WHO). In view of the findings, seen by some as contradictory, environmental advocacy groups have appealed to the EU to exercise more caution. “The Commission has continued to ignore the concerns of independent scientists, MEPs and European citizens,” Greenpeace's EU food policy director Franziska Achterberg said in a statement.

The German Friends of the Earth affiliate, BUND, accused the Commission of being “too cowardly” to look the truth in the eye, let the experts vote and the renewal plans fail. “The EU should end this cliffhanger, take the concerns of its member states seriously and not allow the extension of glyphosate’s registration,” BUND said in its statement, adding that the Commission should not let itself be drawn before Monsanto’s cart.

In a reaction reflecting the agrochemicals industry’s position, Germany’s agrochemicals producers organized in the industry association Industrieverband Agrar said: “Once again EU member states have been unable to position themselves in regard to the EU’s proposals.”

Germany’s abstention is “especially shameful” because its scientific authorities were charged with the risk analysis for the Commission, the producers’ association said. “The Social Democrat-led ministries” – in particular Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks opposed the renewal – “evidently trusted the authorities less than the in part absurdly polemic positions of various environmental groups,” it added.