The Environment Committee’s report was diluted beyond recognition in today’s vote and the entire proposal ended up being rejected.
Strasbourg (OTS) – After months of negotiations, the European Parliament has no position today Ordinance on the sustainable use of plant protection products (SUR) found. The request to send the proposal back to the Environment Committee was also rejected. As a result, trialogue negotiations will not be able to begin and there will be no regulation on pesticides.
Sarah Wiener, Greens MEP and rapporteur for the regulation, comments: “This is a dark day for the environment, for our health, but also for the future of agriculture. Driven by strong lobbies from the agricultural and pesticide industries, conservative and right-wing members of the European Parliament have managed to weaken pesticide regulation at almost every point. In addition to adopting toothless reduction targets, they also removed protection from kindergartens, schools and nursing homes in so-called sensitive areas. Financial support to farmers during transformation was eliminated without replacement and mandatory integrated pest protection was also abandoned – i.e. the exhaustion of preventive measures before the application of chemical pesticides, for example through crop rotation and agroecological measures.
This report would not have protected the environment and health or initiated changes in agriculture, and therefore would not have met any of the objectives of the SUR. Ultimately, the text was not good enough to be supported by anyone and was rejected. A bitter disappointment after having found viable solutions in the Environment Committee. This means that Parliament has no position and there can be no tripartite negotiations for now.
It is disappointing that the conservative and right-wing factions in Parliament did not recognize their responsibility to the end and did not propose compromises or agree others. This outcome could have been avoided.”
Questions and contact:
Ludmilla Reisinger/press spokesperson Sarah Wiener, MEP
[email protected]
+43 660 3213732