The Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU was unable to get Member States to reach a common position on simplifying the rules governing the placing on the market of pesticides, at the meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States to the EU (Coreper) on the evening of Friday 12 June.
According to several sources, a number of Member States - including Germany, Italy, Spain and Denmark - were unable to support the compromise on the table, which notably provided for extending approval periods for pesticides from 10 to 15 years and from 15 to 25 years, and for limiting unlimited authorisations solely to low-risk substances and products containing them (see EUROPE 13884/8). Issues linked in particular to maximum residue levels (MRLs) also prevented the formation of a qualified majority in the Council.
Countries such as France and Poland, for their part, could have accepted the proposed compromise.
Consultations with the delegations of EU countries are under way, according to a European source.
All indications suggest that it will be Ireland, which will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU from 1 July, that will have to continue work on this file from the food safety rules simplification package (‘Omnibus X’).
This failure of the negotiations appears to satisfy several stakeholders. Olivier de Matos, Director General of CropLife Europe, considered that this disagreement “shows that Member States need an in-depth discussion, without rushing the process and with a clear objective of simplification”. The organisation preferred the Commission proposal to the compromise text presented by the Cyprus Presidency. “National authorities are already dealing with significant capacity constraints. This is why reform must deliver meaningful, targeted simplification that frees up resources and helps authorities focus on new applications and innovation,” added Mr de Matos.
According to the EU’s agricultural cooperatives and organisations (Copa-Cogeca), which welcomed this failure of the negotiations in the EU Council, the latest compromise text “remains insufficient to deliver the level of regulatory improvement that farmers need”. Further discussions are needed, according to this organisation, to reach a “truly ambitious” outcome for European agriculture, enabling farmers and cooperatives to have access to safe and effective crop protection solutions. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)