b'A TOOL FORO n July 1, 2023, Spain assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union, a responsibility that it will exercise until Dec. 31 of this year. During this period, Spain will SUSTAINABLEhave the opportunity to promote one of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency: advance in everything related to the incorporation of the most advanced technologies and new genomic techniques, especially DEVELOPMENT in the current context of climate change.To this end, since the presentation of the regulation proposal by the European Commission on July 5, the Ministry team has THE SPANISH PRESIDENCY OF THE EU ISbeen working intensively, both at a technical and diplomatic level, to carry out a proposal that allows the development of these tools COMMITTED TO GENE EDITING.in plant improvement.BY: ELENA SENZ GARCA-BAQUERO At the Council of Agriculture Ministers on 25 July, there was a first exchange of views on the Commission\'s legislative proposal for a regulation on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques, as part of its Package on Food, Nutrition and Biodiversity. The ministers stated that they welcomed this initiative, saying they con-sidered it necessary to guarantee a sustainable and resilient agri-food system. In parallel, during the month of July a working group was launched at a technical level to debate the articles of the proposed regulation.In the press conference after the Council, Spain\'s acting Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, stated: "We must be very didactic." New genomic techniques allow breeders to achieve plant varieties in a more precise and safe way and in shorter periods of time than using conventional breeding methods. He stressed that these techniques open numerous possibilities for producing food in a more sustainable way, by being able to have crops that require less water, fertilizers or phytosanitary inputs.He organized and chaired an informal meeting of European agriculture ministers in Crdoba on September 4 and 5 to address the scientific, ethical, legal and social aspects of gene editing, as well as its coexistence with organic farming and future patents.At the meeting and based on the context provided by the sci-entific world, the potential of utilizing NGT to obtain new plant varietiesboth to tackle the challenge of the sustainability of food production and particularly to address the challenge of climate change and the need to reduce the use of phytosanitary products and fertilizerswas addressed.At the press conference after the meeting, the Minister high-lighted that the Spanish Presidency is committed to working 36ISEED WORLD EUROPEIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'