MEPs push for a new target on sales of low-risk, biological pesticides

European Parliament’s political groups envisage a more active role for the EU executive in favouring the uptake of low-risk alternatives to chemical pesticides, according to a preparatory document seen by Euractiv.

The proposed attempt to revamp the EU’s pesticide legislative framework is at a turning point, as the Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) votes next Tuesday (24 October) on their own set of tweaks to the original Commission’s proposal unveiled in June 2022 to present to the plenary for final approval.

The Parliament’s position has taken a more definite shape after a deal between the rapporteur on the file, Austrian Green MEP Sarah Wiener, and leading lawmakers from other political groups on what in parliamentary jargon is defined as compromise amendments.

With a huge figure of 2,959 amendments filed by all MEPs in April, a smaller number of compromise amendments agreed upon by political groups will constitute the backbone of the Parliament’s position and have the highest possibility of being approved by the committee in the end.

The political groups agreed to increase the environmental ambition of the reform by not only halving the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030 but also including a new 65% reduction target of “the use of more hazardous plant protection products”.

The proposed figure was a result of compromise among the MEPs after the rapporteur included in her first draft a reduction target of 80% for the use of more hazardous pesticides – which are those cancer-causing, neurotoxic, or toxic for reproduction.

In their compromise amendments, MEPs also recommended changing the baseline for the calculation of the reduction target from the proposed average of pesticide use from 2015 to 2017 to include the years 2013 and 2014.

This change will contribute to raising the average pesticide use taken into consideration for the reduction by 2030 in a bid to mitigate the impact of plant protection product cuts on farmers.

EU countries seek to scrap national pesticide reduction targets

A coalition of 11 EU countries has proposed to scrap national targets in the EU’s proposal to halve the use and risk of pesticides by 2030, which could now work its way into the Council’s official position as part of inter-institutional talks. 

New target for sales of pesticide alternatives

The main new feature in the Parliament’s position is the request for the Commission to “set a Union 2030 target for increasing the overall sales of low-risk plant protection products and biological control”.

The lack of alternatives to the use of traditional pesticides has always been a major concern for European farmers and the Commission’s original plan to halve pesticide use was initially criticised for not providing enough reassurances on the availability of these alternatives by 2030.

The new target is an attempt to make the EU executive accountable for providing farmers with low-risk options, envisaging a more active role for Brussels in the creation of a satisfactory market offer of these products.

In their compromise amendments, MEPs suggest setting the new target “at a level which the Commission deems both ambitious and achievable”, “following consultation of stakeholders and based on the best available technical and market information”.

The Commission is also asked to come up with a methodology for calculating this target for sales of low-risk plant protection to be adopted through secondary legislation.

For their part, member states will be asked to set national targets for increasing the overall sales of low-risk plant protection products and biological control in line with this methodology, as well as monitoring annual fluctuations in order to maintain the progress achieved in this regard.

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A range of new technologies from artificial intelligence to RNA-based innovations could be key to significantly reducing the amount of chemical pesticides used as well as conceiving new crop protection products.

Fast-track for low-risk pesticide approval

Along these lines, MEPs asked to change the Commission proposal and consider ways to accelerate market access for biocontrol products and even a “priority lane for approval” of low-risk active substances.

The term biological control describes those active substances used in plant protection products that are either living micro-organisms, naturally occurring or if synthesized, identical to a naturally occurring substance.

If the amendments proposed by the MEPs are approved, the Commission will be tasked with publishing guidance documents “to further facilitate the approval of low-risk active substances and active substances exerting biological control”.

Likewise, the EU executive should “assess the need for additional funding for the training and employment of regulatory staff within EFSA and the Commission, to prevent delays in the authorisation process for low-risk active substances,” the preparatory document reads.

Germany bets on integrated pest management for halving pesticide use

Implementing integrated pest management (IPM) is part of Germany’s toolbox to achieve the 50% reduction target the EU could set in its new pesticide legislation. But in practice, many hurdles stand in the way.

A tough compromise

The compromise amendments herald difficult months of heated talks between the conservative side of the Parliament and the Greens.

The right-wing side, supported by the liberals, managed to introduce an addition saying that the reduction targets should be reached “while taking into account economic, social and environmental sustainability, long-term food security and food sovereignty”.

On the other side, the Greens’ proposal to create a new Union funding instrument for the transition in agriculture in the seven-year EU budget remained but only as an option for the Commission, which “may propose” the set up of such fund “where possible”.

After the vote in the leading committee next Tuesday (24 October), the file will pass to the plenary for a vote to be scheduled in the coming months.

Once the EU Council also adopts its position, talks between MEPs and EU ministers to agree on a common final text will start, although chances to hash out all the divergences between the two branches of the EU lawmaking before the end of the legislative term next year are extremely slim.

EU pesticide law further behind schedule as committee vote delayed

The vote on the EU’s proposed pesticides regulation in the European Parliament’s agriculture committee has been pushed back to October, further narrowing the window to reach an agreement ahead of next year’s EU elections.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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