MEPs on the European Parliament Environment Committee and the European Commission agree that Member States must be pushed to finally comply with current EU pesticide legislation, through innovation, for the right, through compulsion, for others.
MEPs from the S&D, Greens/EFA, Renew Europe and GUE/NGL groups all called, on Monday 29 June, for the target of halving the risks and use of chemical pesticides in the EU by 2030 to be made genuinely binding.
They doubt that Member States will comply with this ambition of the sustainable ‘farm to fork’ food Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, if the Commission does not take a firm stance, even if it means launching infringement proceedings against any Member States that are currently in breach. Several MEPs cited the critical report and recommendations of the Court of Auditors (see EUROPE 12419/12).
Their doubts were expressed during an exchange of views on: – the implementation of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (2009/128/EC), on which a consultation is being launched with a view to its possible revision (see EUROPE 12498/18); – the REFIT evaluation of the Pesticides Regulation (1107/2009) published in May (see EUROPE 12493/17).
“How will you ensure that the Directive on maximum residue limits for pesticide residues in food will be respected? How much longer are we going to wait and what action are you going to take against Member States that do not comply with the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive?” asked Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden). Infringement proceedings could be launched, the Commission said.
“The major problem is implementation”, said its representative, referring to the Pesticides Regulation, for which minor changes are being considered, particularly in terms of transparency, “because it is the best legislation in the world”. Mick Wallace (GUE/NGL, Ireland) disputed this, given the “problems of conflicts of interest and plagiarism” in the European assessment, recently uncovered by a peer-reviewed scientific study (see EUROPE 12471/22).
“What’s the point of having the toughest legislation in the world if there is no independence in risk assessment, if you don't take into account the cocktail effect?” said Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA).
Commission and MEPs vilified delays by rapporteur Member States in evaluating active substances – delays that lead the Commission to propose authorisation extensions in the absence of data and Parliament to oppose them. “No data, no authorisation!” Marie Arena (S&D, Belgium), hammered home the point.
Members on the right are more circumspect. Christine Schneider (EPP, Germany) called for the EU to invest in research and innovation for more sustainable use of pesticides. For Hermann Tertsch (ECR, Spain), “it is necessary to fight against a certain fundamentalism without looking for alternatives. Farmers must survive, so must the Earth”, he said. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)