The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council must decide in the next few days how to proceed with negotiations on the proposal on the sustainable use of pesticides, following the European Parliament’s rejection of the text (see EUROPE 13298/1), according to discussions held on Wednesday 22 November within the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper).
“We will continue to work, but we need to think about how to proceed”, said a European source on Thursday 23 November.
“The proposal is still in the hands of those responsible within the various institutions”, commented the European Commission on 23 November. The European Parliament has taken a position and the Council must decide how to handle the dossier, the Commission added, stating that “the institution is there to support the work of the co-legislators”. The Commission drew attention to the list of current and future proposals arising from the European Green Deal (new genomic techniques, seeds, the protection of animals during transport).
At Coreper on Wednesday 22 November, the Spanish Presidency reportedly emphasised its wish to include the pesticides issue on the agenda of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting in Brussels on 11 and 12 December, perhaps only in the form of a progress report, should it not be possible for the Council to reach a ‘general approach’ on this text. In the meantime, work is expected to continue on the technical side.
A majority of delegations reportedly indicated during the Coreper meeting that they did not believe sufficient progress had been made on the pesticides dossier at technical level to enable the Council to reach a common position in December. Additional work is required at Council working group level, according to these delegations.
Some delegations welcomed the opportunity to discuss the pesticides proposal in December, either in the form of a progress report or a possible ‘general approach’.
Technical work. The Council working group is meeting on Thursday 23 and Friday 24 November to examine a compromise text from the Spanish Presidency, which retains the European objective of reducing the use of and risk from pesticides by 50% by 2030. This text maintains the ambition of reducing the use of the most dangerous substances by 50%. However, the article providing for the implementation of European objectives in each Member State would be deleted. Countries would be invited to set their own national targets in order to contribute to European pesticide reduction objectives.
With regard to sensitive areas, the Spanish Presidency suggests distinguishing between areas frequented by the public and agricultural or forestry areas. In the latter, only pesticides whose substitution is envisaged and substances already banned would be prohibited. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)