Following agreement by a qualified majority of EU member states on Monday to keep Roundup and other glyphosate-based weedkillers on the shelves for five years, environment MEPs voted down a fresh resolution calling for a ban on the pesticide.

The proposed resolution urged the European Commission to withdraw its five-year re-authorisation and replace it with a proposal “underpinned by the precautionary principle, minimising the risk from exposure and preparing the sector in the case of an immediate ban”.

The proposal followed an earlier resolution, adopted last month by a plenary session of the Parliament, which called for a phase-out of glyphosate in the next five years.

While the Parliament does not make decisions on individual pesticide authorisations, its involvement in the glyphosate debate has contributed to the politicisation of the issue and weighed on recent votes by member states, who have the final say in expert committees.

All EU institutions are now aligned in agreeing that glyphosate should stay for the next five years. What happens in 2022 will be the next debate.

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