European ban on phytosanitary products: brand new territories in sight?
Josef Koch, Bavarian Agricultural Weekly Journal*
© agrarfoto
Use of phytosanitary products (symbolic image): the European Parliament is in the process of redefining the areas in which the use of phytosanitary products will be prohibited.
In the text says ON [Sustainable Use Regulation]the European Commission describes how the use of plant protection products must be halved by 2030. MEP Sarah Wiener (Greens) prepares the official position of the European Parliament on the subject. Its draft text proposes excluding certain areas from the ban on phytosanitary products and introducing others.
Ms Sarah Wiener, MEP for Greens, presented on 2 March a draft position of the European Parliament on the projects of the European Commission aimed at limiting the use of phytosanitary products. In the ” Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), the European Commission explains how it intends to achieve the objectives of the strategy “ farm to table “, namely to halve the use of phytosanitary products by 2030. Ms Wiener’s draft report, which she presented on Thursday to the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, provides for some important the proposal of the European Commission.
What might crop protection product reduction look like?
Ms Sarah Wiener’s draft report proposes to reduce the use of particularly dangerous plant protection products by 80% by 2030. All things considered, however, the use of plant protection products should continue to be reduced by half.
Where might the use of phytosanitary products be facilitated?
The biggest changes proposed by the Green MEP concern the areas in which the use of plant protection products should be prohibited: landscape protection areas, in which nature protection does not play an explicit role, should be excluded from prohibition, as well as red zones polluted by nitrates, natural monuments and isolated trees. It also proposes to authorize the use of phytosanitary products authorized in organic farming, even in sensitive areas.
How might the use of phytosanitary products be made more difficult?
At the same time, groundwater bodies from which drinking water is drawn must be better protected. Ms Wiener’s draft report calls for EU Member States to define protection zones for surface and ground water used for the abstraction of drinking water, in which the use and storage of plant protection products are prohibited .
Will Mrs. Sarah Wiener’s proposals be implemented?
For Ms Sarah Wiener’s proposals to be implemented, the plenary of the European Parliament would first have to adopt the report by majority. The report would then become the official position of the Chamber of Deputies and would be taken into account in its negotiations with the European Commission and EU Member States. Experience shows that in case of agreement between these three parties, all the requirements of one party are never implemented. However, the European Commission had already hinted at the end of last year that it would relax the ban on plant protection products in sensitive areas. She might then support the position that Mrs Wiener has outlined in her report.
Who supports Mrs. Sarah Wiener’s phytosanitary proposal?
According to Mr. Karl Bär, Bavarian Green MP in Bundestag, this would defuse the biggest conflict of the debate. Mr Bär described Mrs Wiener’s draft report as ” smart proposal “. According to Green MEP Martin Häusling, Wiener’s project also improves the risk assessment of plant protection products. According to him, the calculation method of the Commission’s draft would have embellished the evolution of the risk indicator and would have placed certain products used in organic farming at a serious disadvantage, since these often require higher application doses in because of their lower efficiency. The Social Democrats also support Mrs Wiener’s proposal. However, they believe that the savings calculation needs to be improved.
Who opposes Mrs. Sarah Wiener’s phytosanitary proposal?
Mr. Joachim Rukwied, President of the German Farmers’ Union (SPCA), is of a completely different opinion: Sarah Wiener’s draft report does not even take into account existing solutions, such as the Baden-Württemberg route. » Voluntary agreements like those of the Biodiversity Enhancement Act in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria or Lower Saxony would thus be further eroded. The German Raiffeisen Federation shares the same opinion as the SPCA. For its president, Franz-Josef Holzenkamp, the 80 percent reduction target required for the use of high-risk phytosanitary products is ” lacking in common sense ». « This is a one-upmanship in terms of restrictions, motivated by purely political considerations. »
The shadow rapporteur of the European People’s Party, the Austrian Alexander Bernhuber, declared himself in favor of a reduction in the use of phytosanitary products. However, he considers that Mrs Wiener’s project and the Commission’s proposal ” are not realistic “. According to Agriculture Committee Chairman Norbert Lins (CDU), Ms Wiener missed the opportunity to remove the contentious point of sensitive areas from the table. The liberal group Renew Europe also regrets the absence in the two projects of a guarantee for alternative solutions to the use of phytosanitary products.
With equipment fromAgra Europe
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* Source : EU ban on plant protection products: Entirely new areas in sight? | agrarheute.com
