Background on the Comission Proposal
The national bans have been in place for years now. The approval for Monsanto's Mon 810, which was issued in 1998, has expired. It must be re-evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Commission would then have to make a proposal whether or not to extend the approval. Neither has happened so far. Planting Mon 810 is only legal because the approval extends until the Commission makes a decision, once Monsanto has applied for reauthorization. Although the European authority and the Commission have not done their homework, they still want to overturn the national bans, claiming that there was no new evidence that Mon 810 could cause harm to the environment or human health. A bulk of scientific evidence, which indicates that Mon810 could indeed be harmful has been individually dismissed by the EFSA over the past years. The Council of Ministers has called for a more comlprehensive and transparent risk assessment. It has also confirmed that socio-economic considerations should be taken into account as well as risk issues, and it has emphasised that specific regional conditions must be taken into account.
The French government has issued a 
memorandum to all Member States defending its ban, which contains useful arguments with respect to all the pending bans.
On December 18th 2006 the Council of Ministers already rejected (with a qualified majority) an identical proposal of the European Commission to waive the Austrian ban on Mon 810 and another GM maize line (T25). This Council Decision states:
Maize line MON 810 was approved according to Directive 90/220/EC, which has since been replaced by Directive 2001/18/EC, which contains harmonized environmental risk assessment criteria for GMOs. Maize line MON 810 has not yet undergone a procedure of re-approval and reassessment in accordance with Directive 2001/18/EC.
(...)
Finally the different agricultural structures and regional ecological characteristics in the European Union need to be taken into account in a more systematic manner in the environmental risk assessment of GMOs.
Therefore the Council considered there were sufficient grounds for rejecting the Commission's proposal and that the use of the temporary precautionary measures was justified.
On February 20th 2007 the Council (by qualified majority) rejected the Commission's proposal to waive Hungary's ban on Mon 810 with the same justification. Council decision 20 February 2007
On December 4th 2008 the Council of Ministers unanimously adopted Conclusions on Genetically Modified Organisms which confirm reservations regarding the present approval system as well as the right of Member States to prohibit the cultivation of GMOs under certain conditions.
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