A heavy blow to a cornerstone of the European green agenda has reverberated across EU policy circles. The much-discussed plan to cut pesticide use by 50 percent in the European Union was debated but ultimately rejected by the European Parliament a few days ago. The vote tally stood at 299 against, 207 in favor, with 121 MPs abstaining.
“This is a very dark day for public health and for the environment as a whole, and it delays farmers’ liberation from the grip of agribusiness,” said Austrian environmentalist parliamentarian Sarah Wiener.
According to Efe, Wiener pressed for sending the legislative project back to the Parliamentary Environment Commission for a thorough re-evaluation, though the assembly did not allow that option to proceed.
The defeat clears the path for a reset. At a post-vote press conference Wiener described the legislative effort as effectively dead in the current European legislature and suggested it was very unlikely to be implemented before the 2024 European Parliament elections.
The original initiative was proposed by the European Commission in June of last year. It set legally binding national and EU level targets to reduce pesticide use and lessen risk by 50 percent, aiming to curb the most dangerous chemicals by 2030.
Under the EC plan, member states would establish their own national reduction targets within agreed parameters to ensure EU-wide goals are met.
Differences Between Environment and Agriculture
The proposal ran into a tough parliamentary process due to ideological splits between left and right. The Environment and Agriculture committees in the European Parliament held divergent views on the issue.
The Environment Committee prioritized nature protection and public health through ambitious pesticide reductions, while the Agriculture Committee warned about possible impacts on food safety and noted that the plan still did not meet a satisfactory level of safeguards and alternatives to chemical pesticides.
The legislative journey through the Council of the EU, where member states and the European Parliament share decision making, was not straightforward either.
Last December, several countries called for an additional impact assessment after concerns that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and its effects on agriculture had not been fully accounted for in the proposal.
In July this year Brussels published extra analysis indicating that the law would not jeopardize food security, even when factoring in agricultural disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine.
“On the contrary, failing to meet pesticide reduction targets could have long-term and potentially irreversible consequences for food security in the future.” The assessment reinforced that stance and shaped ongoing discussions during recent months.
Those discussions continued as one of the Spanish presidency’s priorities in recent months.
At a recent EU Agriculture Ministers meeting in Brussels, several countries voiced reservations about the legislative project.
German President Cem Özdemir voiced support for the general aim of cutting pesticide use by 50 percent by 2030 and staying aligned with the Commission’s strategy.
Finland’s Sari Essayah expressed opposition to setting national targets for each member state, arguing that many pesticides are not used in her country and that national targets could be unfair to places with already low usage.
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