34 / SEEDWORLD.COM OCTOBER 2018 never be handled by the current EU system. It simply lacks both the necessary resources and the political will. SW: Bayer, BASF and probably some others, have already announced that they will not pursue advanced genetic plant breeding any more in the EU. Are you seeing more companies and inventors saying this too? GvE: I would expect that this position will become the rule, not be an exception. It also needs to be said that such relocation of plant breeding-related research and innovation activities (and consequent product development and marketing) will be easier for those entities that already possess respective facilities outside the EU. The smaller and more regionally or even locally focused European companies are the ones that will suffer most. It is sad to see that history seems to repeat itself. We already observed this effect with the classical GM technology and products. Those now applauding the ruling as preserving a diverse European plant breeding sector will in the end see that quite the contrary will become true. Only larger companies would be capable of crossing the high regulatory and financial bars of the EU’s GM authorization system. Smaller- and medium- sized companies will effectively be prevented from accessing these advanced breeding methods. SW: What are the next steps for ESA? GvE: We are still in the process of fully analyzing the ruling and all foreseeable consequences. We will discuss these also with our colleagues in public research, our customers, European farmers and vegetable growers, as well as our partners along the EU agri-food chain. The very clear and unusually outspoken reactions of many of them show that there is wide agreement amongst us that this ruling now has to be accepted from a purely juridical point of view; but that its wider socioeconomic consequences are unacceptable, not only for us but for Europe as a whole. To turn an old saying around: If it’s broken, fix it! How it can be fixed to me is still uncertain and will still require long and difficult discussions. But that we will try to fix it, that much is for certain. What is equally clear is that Europe in the first place needs to have a political debate, not a legal one, on the future of its agriculture, its related sectors in general and specifically on plant breeding innovation. Maybe the start of discussions about the new European Common Agricultural Policy and related budget provides an opportunity for that; and maybe the severe drought problems in vast parts of Europe underline the importance and the urgency to set Europe’s plant breeding sector free from rules that prevent, instead of stimulating, innovations that could help us to more successfully address climate change, healthy diets, environmental sustainability and food security. It is not yet too late to have this debate; but it is high time. 150 years after Mendel’s discoveries revolutionized the under- standing of the development of plants, we will do all we can to assure that Europe not only has a history of plant breeding to be proud of, but that it also will have a future. SW