Wiener: EU Parliament does not find a position on the pesticide regulation

2023-11-22 15:07:16

The report from the Environment Committee was watered down beyond recognition in today’s vote and the entire proposal was ultimately voted down.

Strasbourg (OTS) – After months of negotiations, the European Parliament has no position today Ordinance on the sustainable use of plant protection products (SUR) found. The request to send the proposal back to the Environment Committee was also rejected. As a result, the trilogue negotiations cannot begin and there will be no pesticide regulation.

Sarah Wiener, Green MEP and rapporteur for the regulationcomments: “This is a black day for the environment, our health, but also for the future of agriculture. Driven by the strong lobbies of the agricultural and pesticide industries, the conservative and right-wing members of the European Parliament have succeeded in weakening the pesticide regulation in almost all points. In addition to adopting toothless reduction targets, they have also removed protection for kindergartens, schools and old people’s homes in so-called sensitive areas. The financial support for farmers during the transformation was deleted without replacement and the mandatory integrated pest protection was also dropped – i.e. the exhaustion of preventive measures before the application of chemical pesticides, for example through crop rotation and agroecological measures.

This report would not have protected the environment and health or initiated changes in agriculture and would therefore not have fulfilled any of the SUR’s goals. Ultimately, the text wasn’t good enough for anyone to support and was rejected. A bitter disappointment after we had found workable solutions in the Environment Committee. This means that Parliament has no position and there can be no trilogue negotiations for the time being.

It is disappointing that the conservative and right-wing factions in Parliament did not recognize their responsibility until the end and neither proposed compromises nor agreed to others. This outcome could have been avoided.”