The European Parliament has been very critical of EU Member States, most of which are not implementing the 2009 EU Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (2009/128/EC), which aims to protect public health and the environment, on Tuesday 12 February in Strasbourg.
In a resolution adopted by a show of hands on the basis of an own-initiative report by Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden), MEPs endorsed the European Commission's very negative report (see EUROPE 12179, 11880).
MEPs point to the increasing intensive use of pesticides as a challenge to the environment and to the health of farmers and of the public.
They note that, while progress has been made in training farmers to spray better, very little has been done to promote research and development (R&D) and to develop alternative methods such as low-risk, non-chemical pesticides. The Parliament also regrets that national plans do not specify objectives or the means to achieve them and that integrated pest management solutions, the cornerstone of the directive, are not sufficiently used.
"Progress must be made in integrated pest management. Citizens are becoming increasingly concerned. We need incentives to help farmers reduce use and switch to non-chemical products. We must work tirelessly in a non-toxic environment. We have the toolbox, let's make sure that Member States use it”, summarised Miriam Dalli (S&D, Malta), who represented Jytte Guteland in the debate.
Sofia Ribeiro (EPP, Portugal), deploring “the general tone of the report which blames farmers” and recalling that "we must protect our plants, our crops", called for the increased use of low-risk pesticides.
The Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, assured MEPs that the Commission will ask Member States to amend their national plans to remedy the shortcomings and announced “a second report later this year on the revised plans”. Recalling that experts from the Member States had voted for harmonised pesticide risk indicators (see EUROPE 12181), he invited MEPs, like the Council, to approve them. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)