After decades of pushing nations to surrender more power to the European Union, the bloc is pulling back on efforts to assert its authority over one contentious issue, genetically modified foods. On Tuesday, the European Commission will formally propose giving back to national and local governments the freedom to decide whether to grow such crops. The new policy is aimed at overcoming a stalemate that has severely curtailed the market for biotech seeds in Europe for years. Only two crops, produced by agricultural giant Monsanto and chemical company BASF, are sold for cultivation in Europe. The new flexibility is aimed at opening up markets in countries like the Netherlands, where governments are broadly favorable toward growing and trading biotech products, while countries like Austria, where the products are unpopular, can maintain a ban. But far from celebrating the new approach, the growing global industry as well as some farmers themselves are extremely wary. 'So many different authorities suddenly doing so many different things risks sending a message to successful growers in Africa and Asia that authorities are unsure how to deal with biotech,' said Nathalie Moll, the secretary general of EuropaBio, an industry group. The United States and the European Union are still trying to resolve a dispute over genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, and related issues after the trade organization in 2006 ruled against Europe's de facto ban. Washington could still retaliate in that case. A critical factor behind the proposed change in Europe is a growing frustration with the current system, under which meetings between government officials and ministers routinely end in deadlock. That forces unelected officials at the European Commission to make the final decision on authorizing biotech products. The commission has found itself repeatedly pressured on one side by the United States and the WTO to follow the recommendations of its own scientific authorities and enforce the use of approved products and on the other by countries like Austria and environmental groups that believe the European Union authorities are too eager to promote newfangled technologies. Under the new proposals, the commission would continue to make the approvals itself but leave it to members and local and regional authorities to decide what they want to grow at home. Whether the new rules will win the necessary approval from European Union governments and the European Parliament still is unclear. 