Commission changes view on controversial insecticide, set to propose zero residues in food

At the next meeting on pesticides between the Commission and member states, on Monday and Tuesday, the bloc’s executive will table a regulation to slash to zero the insecticide thiacloprid residues in all food products, after having proposed to raise the maximum admitted level of it in imported food.

Thiacloprid, like others belonging to the group of neonicotinoid substances, is widely used at the global scale because of its efficacy on many products, such as cotton, pepper, tea, fruit, and potatoes. But the ecological impact of neonicotinoids, particularly on bees and other pollinators, pushed the EU to adopt progressive restrictions on their use since 2013. 

The use of thiacloprid has been banned in the EU since 2020 because it is toxic to reproduction and a potential carcinogen. Last January, the European Parliament rejected the Commission’s proposal to raise the limit of the maximum quantity of residues of the insecticide on more than 30 products coming from third countries. 

Evidently, the Commission has changed its view on the matter.

In an open letter, the Pesticide Action Network Europe called on member states to support the proposal “and to speed up its adoption”. 

Beyond the NGOs’ pressure, a significant contribution to the Commission’s afterthought has come from France’s decision to halt the imports of fresh fruits and vegetables treated with thiacloprid for one year. 

The ministerial decree with the decision, French authorities said, will cease to apply “as soon as the European Union adopts measures to lower maximum residue limits”. 

The reasoning behind the initiative relies not only on health and environmental concerns, but it is clearly also a way to meet French and EU farmers’ demands to limit the imports of foods that do not meet the EU production standards, following the principle of “reciprocity” of requirements between the European and third-country food producers.

When it comes to pesticides, farmers’ organisations and NGOs have always been in opposing camps and the dialogue has always been difficult, to put it mildly. The excessive “polarisation” on the topic has been the main argument for the Commission to withdraw the proposal of a regulation for halving the use of pesticides by 2030.

When it comes to imported food, the story changes and the views of the opponents converge. Farmers’ appetite for competitiveness and NGOs environmental and health concerns have found common ground against the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, and the residues of pesticides in imported foods. 

Thiacloprid is not an isolated case: last December MEPs rejected a proposal to allow in the EU market rice produced using tricyclazole, a fungicide whose use is banned for European growers. The Commission follows, it seems.

How stances like this can go with an ambitious trade agenda, which has been a longstanding goal of the Commission, is a more problematic issue.

Nibbles of the week

Former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta wrote in a much-awaited report that the costs of the EU green transition should be shared collectively to avoid burdening specific sectors, citing farmers as a group showing resistance to reforms. Nevertheless, Letta stressed that the EU must meet its “ambitious green targets” as the future of the 27-member bloc “hinges on these commitments”. 

Meanwhile, radical farming groups are set to continue the backlash against EU green policies, and unveiled plans to revive farmers’ protests ahead of June’s European elections.

The Dutch Farmers Defence Force (FDF), founded in 2019 in response to demonstrations of animal activists in the Netherlands, is calling farmers – or, as they put it, “warriors” and “fighters” –  to join a protest on 4 June, days before the European Parliament election. 

Experts identified extreme weather as a primary challenge to food supply in Europe in an assessment of EU food security released by the European Commission on 16 April.

EU potato traders have raised concerns about a proposal from the European Parliament to ease new rules on seed marketing, as stakeholders warn that the draft legislation could increase the transmission risks of crop diseases. MEPs will adopt their position on the text next week in Strasbourg.

This week, South Africa, the world’s second-largest orange and mandarin exporter in the world after Spain, launched a second dispute at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) challenging EU phytosanitary rules for citrus imports.

Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski will visit China next week, leading an EU agri-food business delegation aiming to grow European food and beverage exports to the Asian country.

NGOs say stopping exports of pesticides banned in the EU would have little economic impact. A report by a coalition of NGOs, published on Thursday found that a ban on the export of pesticides prohibited in the bloc – a measure proposed by the European Parliament’s environment committee in 2023 –  would result in only minor economic and job losses.

Greece becomes first EU country to ban bottom fishing in marine protected areas. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Tuesday a ban on bottom trawling in the country’s marine protected areas (MPAs), the first such fishing ban in Europe.

Commission wants to expand wine producers’ opportunities to enter low-alcohol market. Addressing the European Parliament’s agriculture committee (AGRI) on Monday, the EU executive announced that it wants to develop the European legal framework for organic wines and labelling to allow more producers  to enter the new low-alcohol wine market.

Avian influenza vaccination cannot completely immunise birds, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) said in a report published on 17 April, as France banked on it to reduce the disease’s impact.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Zoran Radosavljevic]

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