The government leaked the news of the freeze on commercial GM crops to the press last September and Sarkozy confirmed it at a recent environment summit where environmentalists, scientists, farmers and industrialists were invited to debate and put forward proposals on a range of ecological issues.

“The truth is that we have doubts about the current usefulness of pesticide-generating GM crops; the truth is that we have doubts about how to control dissemination of GM plants; the truth is that we have doubts about the health and environmental advantages of GM crops”, Sarkozy said.

The decision was not a scientific one – it was indeed based on the consensus that there is not sufficient evidence of GM crops' harmlessness. It was a political move aimed at breaking the current lack of rules in France and cooling down disputes on the issue before new legislation is brought in.

In fact, the ban will have little practical impact on French grain growers. “Farmers commonly stop sowing maize between September 20 and March 30. This will therefore not trigger a revolution in the countryside”, said Jacques Pasquier, of the Confédération paysanne – a farmers' union that opposes GM crops.

Yet the freeze angered the leading French farmers' union FNSEA, whose representatives left the environment summit for several days after the news was leaked. FNSEA has now accepted the ban in exchange for a promise that clear new rules are put in place before spring sowing begins. “I'm ready to accept the principle of a freeze on GM crops until legislation clarifying their status and the conditions of their use in France is passed”, said its president, Jean-Michel Lemétayer.

The government has decided to include key proposals from the participants in the environment summit into the upcoming bill. These include:

  • the creation of an independent authority, which will conduct a scientific assessment of every GM plant before advising the government on its use;

  • the principle that only GM plants with a proven improvement on GM-free crops should receive authorization;

  • the guarantee that farmers and consumers who want to use GM-free seeds and products will have the choice to do so, through clear labelling and traceability;

  • compensation for GM-free farmers – in particular in organic enterprises – who see their crop contaminated by GM pollen;

  • continued research on GM plants.

France has no choice but to introduce new legislation on GM crops as part of its obligation to apply EU directives on the issue. The adoption of a bill within the next five months would be a dramatic improvement in the country's track record in that area. The government took an order to translate a 2001 EU directive on GM crops into French law only last March, after failing repeatedly to have the legislation passed in parliament and receiving fines from the European Commission.

The order allowed French farmers to sow 20,000 hectares of GM maize for commercial use in 2007. Some fields were also used for research purposes. However, many environmentalists and anti-GM farmers felt the regulations were introduced behind their backs and organised the destruction of numerous GM fields throughout the spring and summer. Some of them, including Confédération paysanne activist José Bové, served prison sentences in the past for the damage caused.

By facing the challenge of having a law on GM crops finally passed in Parliament, Sarkozy wants to put this period behind him: “What we are offering is truly the return of democracy: debate, transparency, decisions made exclusively in the general interest and not in a commercial one, and responsibility; in exchange, everyone will have to return to democracy and the rule of law”, he said.