Perhaps as a sign of how unstable Germany’s political landscape has become, a weed killer has become an unlikely bargaining chip in the country’s political power-brokering. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) has mandated the discontinuation of glyphosate a prerequisite for another grand coalition to go ahead with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Despite facing stiff opposition to outlawing the widely used herbicide from its unruly Bavarian sister party, Merkel ultimately succeeded in getting the CSU to approve the grand coalition plan.
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Even though the draft coalition treaty remains (no doubt deliberately) vague on a deadline, the EU’s most powerful country is now a proponent of organic agriculture, restricting the use of chemicals and broadly against glyphosate. The reasons for this latest decision may be grounded in domestic politics. The reverberations, however, will be felt across the EU.
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[T]he fact that the CSU remains so steadfastly opposed to glyphosate – despite the weight of evidence in glyphosate’s favour – is not particularly surprising. Its stance is informed by populist considerations. The party has effectively bent to a public that has become increasingly hostile to pesticides and GMOs, thanks to the revival of green activists gathering strength across the country. Germany’s changing tack on agricultural policy and glyphosate will strengthen activists the EU over, no matter how shaky the basis for their misgivings about the chemical.Read full, original post: Germany’s grand coalition is bad news for #glyphosate
