Disputed French bill on GM crops to make come-back

By Emile Picy

PARIS, May 14 (Reuters) - A French bill on genetically modified crops will be re-submitted to parliament unchanged, a committee said on Wednesday, a day after it was blocked by legislators in an embarrassment for President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The ruling UMP party is divided over the bill, which would regulate the cultivation of GM crops in France. Pro-GM members believe it is too restrictive, while antis say it is too lax.

Under a technical procedure, a legislative committee convened after Tuesday's blockage and said the text would be re-submitted for a vote by each of the chambers, the lower National Assembly and the upper Senate.

Many UMP legislators were absent from the National Assembly on Tuesday during a debate that was supposed to result in a positive vote. In their absence, the chamber passed a technical objection -- by a single vote -- which blocked the text.

The opposition Socialists and environmental campaigners expressed jubilation and called for a complete overhaul of the bill, which they say is too favourable to the interests of biotech companies such as U.S. giant Monsanto.

But the government minimised the setback and said it should not detract from important legislative work on GM crops.

"Yesterday's regrettable incident will not divert the government from its responsibilities," Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament on Wednesday, defending the bill and vowing it would pass into law.