The accession of 12 New Member States (NMS) during 2004–2007 resulted in a
significant expansion of GM plantings in the EU. Some suspect multinational companies
of having used NMS as ‘trojan horse’ for introducing GM crops through the
‘back door’ of the enlarged EU (Brown, 2004). Others argue that the lack of modern
agricultural development in these former socialist countries and the need to
restructure their agricultural sectors to maintain competitiveness has made cuttingedge
biotechnology attractive (Zo¨ ller, 2006). However, reality shows that enthusiasm
for planting GM crops varies greatly among the NMS. Although the Czech
Republic is progressively increasing its Bt maize area (Abbott and Schiermeier,
2007), Hungary imposed a de facto ban on GM crops, following its earlier ban on
MON 810 Bt maize, invoked on 20 January 2005.