These meetings were convened on behalf of Commissioner Barroso to facilitate discussion on the operation of the EU assessment and decision-making process for GM crops and foods. We have expressed our view that the EU regime is robust enough to ensure that human health and the environment will not be compromised, but that there is need to avoid unnecessary and unjustified delays in reaching decisions on proposed GM products. In particular, we have highlighted our concern that the slow operation of the EU regime could lead to serious problems with the import of animal protein feed, on which UK and EU livestock farmers are dependent.