Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP 11:28 a.m., February 6, 2024

Faced with the anger of farmers, who for weeks have denounced European ecological standards considered excessive, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Tuesday the withdrawal of a legislative project aimed at halving the use of pesticides in the EU.

The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Tuesday the withdrawal of a legislative project aimed at halving the use of pesticides in the EU, blocked by MEPs and castigated in recent agricultural demonstrations. Central element of the “Green Deal”, the legislative project on pesticides proposed in June 2022 by Brussels planned to halve by 2030 the use and risks at EU level of chemical phytosanitary products (compared to in the period 2015-2017).

"Polarization symbol"

The proposal "has become a symbol of polarization", lamented Ursula von der Leyen in Strasbourg, while angry farmers have been denouncing for weeks European ecological standards deemed excessive. “It was rejected by Parliament, there is no more progress in the Council (the member states) either. This is why I will propose to the college (of commissioners) to withdraw this proposal,” she said. declared before MEPs.

“The subject remains topical” but “to move forward, more dialogue and a different approach are necessary. The Commission could make a new, much more mature proposal, with the participation of stakeholders,” declared Ursula von der Leyen, without advance the date. “Farmers need economic reasons to take nature protection measures, perhaps we have not presented these reasons convincingly to them,” she regretted.

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But the European Parliament rejected the proposal at the end of November, after amendments from PPE (right) elected officials largely emptying it of its substance to avoid "unrealistic" constraints on the agricultural world. An extremely rare rejection which contributed to burying it de facto a few months before the European elections of June 2024 while the EU "Green Deal" appears as a scarecrow. Theoretically, the Ministers of Agriculture could continue to debate the text, but in practice the negotiations between the Twenty-Seven are permanently bogged down, with several States expressing alarm at the impact on yields and production.

“Strategic dialogue”

Faced with the agricultural crisis, the European executive is striving to multiply pledges: last week it proposed granting a partial exemption from fallow obligations and limiting Ukrainian agricultural imports, after having already given up last year to propose a text on nutritional labeling (Nutriscore type). Ursula von der Leyen once again assured on Tuesday that she was aware of the agricultural malaise: faced with the effects of climate change and the war in Ukraine, "many farmers feel cornered (..) They deserve to be listened to".

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“They also know that agriculture must move towards a more sustainable production model, we want to ensure that they remain in control of the process,” she underlined, recalling having launched a “dialogue in January strategic" with the sector on future prospects. “We need to go beyond a polarized debate, build trust (...) We must avoid blaming each other, and seek solutions to problems together,” she argued.