The ban on pesticides in sensitive areas, the need for a new assessment of the impact of the proposal and the reduction targets for these products and the methodology for their calculation are the main elements that pose a problem for the Member States, according to the progress report of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council dated Thursday 8 December, obtained by EUROPE.
This report on the sensitive issue of pesticides will be presented on Sunday 11 December to EU agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels (see EUROPE 13080/6).
Discussions on the proposed regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides will continue in the first half of 2023 under the Swedish Presidency of the EU Council, despite Member States’ request for further analysis of the impact of the proposal on food security.
The EU Council’s decision calling for an additional impact assessment will be submitted to the Committee of Member States’ Representatives to the EU (Coreper) on 10 December.
The text could be adopted by the EU Council on 19 December. The Council is not expected to set a deadline for the submission of the new assessment, but should ask the Commission to provide the requested data as soon as possible (see EUROPE 13079/13).
Sensitive areas. The document from the Czech Presidency of the Council also confirms that it has presented a compromise text on the scope of the regulation and definitions to the Council experts.
Regarding the ban on chemical pesticides in sensitive areas, the Czech Presidency favours allowing Member States to define procedures to limit the risks of using plant protection products in these areas.
The European Commission originally proposed a total ban on pesticides in these sensitive areas. The Commission, too, has put forward an unofficial compromise document in which it accepts a ban on only the most hazardous pesticides in environmentally sensitive areas.
Link to the Czech Presidency document: https://aeur.eu/f/4ls (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)