At the ‘Agriculture’ Council meeting on Monday 23 February, Estonia, supported by the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania, called for decision-making on pesticides not to be based solely on safety criteria, but also to include a “mandatory socio-economic sustainability assessment” when no alternatives exist. These countries feel that biocontrol products are not a sufficient alternative.
Denmark has indicated that it does not support the Estonian request.
“The proposed amendments will allow more active substances to benefit from broader derogations and to continue to be approved for a limited time, even if there are no alternatives and even if they do not meet all the criteria”, replied Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi (see EUROPE 13774/15).
The Commissioner added: “We did not introduce additional general derogations, for example to allow an active substance to be fully authorized if there are negative impacts on agriculture. This would be a fundamental change to the regulation.”
Poland has also criticised the proposal to classify seeds treated with pesticides as plant protection products. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)