EU Commission faces call to resign over failure to regulate EDs

In the plenary session held on May 12, Vice President Ryszard Czarnecki announced that the President had received a motion of censure on the Commission, signed by the necessary number of MEPs, saying that the European Commission had failed to comply with its legal obligation to publish scientific criteria for defining endocrine disruptors (EDs). The debate on this motion of censure will take place during the next part-session.

 

The motion was drafted by MEP Piernicola Pedicini (EFDD, IT) and signed by EFD, GUE, ENF and NI members.

 

Procedure
 

According to rule 119 a motion of censure on the Commission may be submitted to the President by one tenth of the component Members of Parliament. Parliament will debate this motion in plenary session at least 24 hours after it is announced, and then put it to a roll-call-vote, at least 48 hours after the beginning of the debate.

 

To be adopted, the motion of censure needs to secure a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, representing a majority of the component Members of Parliament. The President of the Council and the President of the Commission shall be notified of the result of the vote.

 

Background
 

The European Court of Justice recently ruled that the Commission had breached EU law by failing to publish scientific criteria for defining endocrine disruptors, as a first step towards reducing exposure to them. MEPs have repeatedly urged the EU to clamp down on the substances.

 

In a March 2013 resolution, the European Parliament called on the Commission to act to reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors, which have been linked to recent increases in cases of impaired sperm quality, early onset of puberty, certain cancers and other disorders.