European integration was a response to the different crises faced by European nation-states after the two world wars -a major political innovation that has made it possible to build a structural peace model, reinforce fundamental values and rights and establish a market that has been the basis of its economic prosperity. Following an initial phase of institutional development of the community model, integration, particularly since the Empty Chair Crisis, has drifted towards an increasingly intergovernmental model in greater tension with the foundational supranational spirit. In recent years, Europe has again found itself faced by enormous challenges (economic crisis, Brexit, pandemic, rise of new powers, etc.). On this occasion, the EU has succeeded in adopting an Economic Recovery Plan that includes an ambitious EU debt programme to finance projects of recovery and structural transformation of the EU economy. Moreover, for several years the EU has been engaged in a debate on its future, which began with the Commission's White Paper in March 2017 and will culminate in 2022 with the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE). However, the interesting concepts included in the debate -strategic autonomy, European sovereignty -run the risk of limiting their scope to functional developments, without sufficient exploration of democratic aspects. Furthermore, the concept of European sovereignty, if restricted to a replication of state sovereignty on a European scale, would find its transformative and democratic potential significantly curtailed.

This article addresses the scenarios that may be encountered by the first application for pre-market approval of a CRISPR-edited plant in the EU. Two alternative scenarios are considered in the short and medium term. One of these possible EU futures depends on the final drafting and approval of EU legislation on certain New Genomic Techniques, which was started in 2021 and is due to be quite advanced before the next European Parliament elections in 2024. Since the proposed legislation excludes plants with foreign DNA, two different approval processes for CRISPR-edited plants will coexist if the legislation enters into force: one for plants whose genome has been altered, resulting in mutagenesis, cisgenesis and intragenesis; and the second for plants whose alterations result in transgenesis in general. In the event that this legislative process does not succeed, CRISPR-edited plants in the EU could face a regulatory scenario whose foundations were laid in the 1990s: the regulatory framework that applies to GM crops, food and feed. In this review, an ad hoc analytical framework has been built that considers in depth the two possible futures for CRISPR-edited plants in the EU. This framework emphasises the way in which the European Union and the Member States (MS), with their respective national interests, have historically shaped the regulatory framework for plant breeding in the EU. On the basis of the analyses carried out on the two possible futures for CRISPR-edited plants and of their potential with respect to plant breeding, the main conclusions are the following. Firstly, that the regulatory review that started in 2021 is not in itself “good enough” for plant breeding and CRISPR-edited plants. Secondly, that compared to its alternative, the regulatory review currently underway contains at least some promising improvements in the short term. Hence, thirdly, in addition to adopting the current regulation, the MS need to continue to work towards a substantial improvement in the legal status of plant breeding in the EU in the medium term.

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En este artículo se sostiene que el camino político de la integración europea pasa, entre otras cuestiones, por desarrollar la integración de subregiones europeas (Consejo Nórdico, Consejo Báltico, Visegràd, etc.) que completen el proceso central de integración, y por incorporar plenamente a las regiones constitucionales a los procesos de toma de decisiones de la Unión, particularmente al puñado de regiones que tienen una conciencia nacional distintiva, amplias competencias legislativas y mayorías políticas distintas de las del Estado del que forman parte. Estos desarrollos parece que podrían jugar un papel importante, tanto para conseguir una gobernanza de la UE más eficaz, como para que la UE mejore su legitimidad.<p><strong>Recibido</strong>: 17 diciembre 2018<br /><strong>Aceptado</strong>: 14 enero 2019<br /><strong>Publicación en línea</strong>: 30 abril 2019</p>

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