New battle over EU pesticide vote to rival Nature Restoration Law
EU environment committee wants a 50% reduction in the use and risk of pesticide chemicals, and a 65% reduction of the most hazardous ones, by 2030. Picture: Angus Mordant/Bloomberg
Farmers will be at the centre of a new battle in the European Parliament next month when voting on the Sustainable Use of Pesticide Regulation promises to be just as controversial as the Nature Restoration Law, which escaped being shot down last July by only 12 votes out of 649.
Both are pillars of EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s European Green Deal. Both have to be approved and agreed by the parliament and by member states.
Both are opposed, at least in their originally proposed form, by the European People’s Party, the biggest grouping in the parliament. The party says both proposals threaten EU food security, by over-restricting farmers.
Farmers drove tractors to the European Parliament before the Nature Restoration Law vote, while climate protesters led by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg supported it.
Eventually, it was only a weakened version of the Nature Restoration Law that scraped through to further negotiations. But Copa Cogeca, representing EU farmers, warned it would still "remain unimplementable for farmers and forest owners”.
The Sustainable Use of Pesticide Regulation promises to be equally controversial, especially after MEPs in the parliament's environment committee narrowly approved what Copa Cogeca described as a "hardline, unrealistic approach" to legally binding plant protection chemical reduction targets in the EU.
The environment committee wants a 50% reduction in the use and risk of the chemicals, and a 65% reduction of the most hazardous ones, by 2030 (the commission had only wanted a 50% target for both, based on the 2015-2017 average).
The committee also wants no chemicals in public parks, playgrounds, schools, sports grounds, public paths and Natura 2000 sites (or within 5m of such areas).
Its proposal will next be voted on by the whole parliament during its November 20-23 meeting.
MEP Alexander Bernhuber of the European People's Party (which has 176 of the 705 MEPs) said the party would not support laws that hinder farmers' ability to produce food.
"At a time of multiple crises and global food shortages, we should ensure food security, and not hamper food production in Europe. We all want fewer plant protection products on our plates. However, reducing them without suitable low-risk alternatives, while simultaneously placing additional burdens on farmers, is not a sustainable solution."
Copa Cogeca said all assessments of the commission's original proposal have pointed to major cuts in crop production, and the more demanding Environment Committee proposal was "unworkable".
However, the commission said last June its proposals would have the largest impact on crops with little or no impact on food security, such as grapes, hops, and tomatoes.
Imported produce may not be available to fill any gaps in supply, because measures to ensure imports meet EU-equivalent standards are also demanded by the parliament's environment committee.
In parallel with the parliament's input into the Sustainable Use of Pesticide Regulation, member states are preparing their stance. Anti-pesticide campaigners warn EU countries have come together to propose scrapping national pesticide regulation targets, and this "would reduce it to nothing".
Also, Austria, the EU leader in organic farming, called at the recent agriculture ministers council for "fact-based debate and decision making in plant protection". The Austrian minister said: "A reduction of chemical pesticides must come along with available, effective and sustainable alternatives."
The Netherlands, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, France and Greece use the most pesticides per hectare of cropland, according to Eurostat figures.
However, Ireland's overall use is low, because cropland is small here compared to grassland. And Ireland is one of only three EU member states on track to reduce pesticide usage 50% by 2030, said Andrew Owen-Griffiths of the commission at the recent Teagasc Crops Forum.
There have been similarly positive trends across the EU. “Essentially, we have nearly reached the target that is set for 2030 already. We only need a 17% reduction between now and 2030. In a four-year period, we have achieved 33%,” said Mr Owen-Griffiths.
Germany, Spain, France and Italy are by far the biggest buyers of pesticides in the EU.
