Pesticides: why the European Commission wants to bury its plan to reduce their use by 50%

Un recul sur la réglementation relative à l’usage des pesticides. MAXPPP – Dasarath Deka

La présidente de la Commission européenne Ursula von der Leyen donne des gages à une partie du secteur agricole. Explications.

Une Commission européenne toujours plus proactive sur le climat mais qui revoit ses ambitions largement à la baisse sur l’agriculture ?

This is what seemed to emerge from the announcements of President Ursula von der Leyen, this Tuesday from Strasbourg. Because if it recommended that the European Union reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 (read our Wednesday edition), taking into account the farmers' movement which is shaking up the ;rsquo;Europe since the beginning of January has visibly led the Commission to apply the handbrake on other objectives.

A "polarization symbol"

Thus, the project to halve the use of pesticides in the European Union could be canceled, the President of the Commission proposed, again this Tuesday. Ursula von der Leyen even deplored that the subject had become a "symbol of polarization". And this while the protest which seems to be calming down in France is now gaining momentum on the other side of the Pyrenees. On Tuesday, Spanish farmers blocked traffic on some of the country's main highways.

Christiane Lambert applauds

"Our farmers deserve to be listened to", declared the head of the executive European before the European Parliament: "I know that they are concerned about the future of agriculture and about their future as a’ rsquo;farmers. But they also know that we need to move towards a more sustainable model so that their farms remain profitable in the years to come."

Christine Lambert, former president of the FNSEA and now president of Copa-Cogeca, a group of European agricultural unions which presents itself as "the voice of farmers&quot ;, immediately welcomed the announcement on .

Éric Andrieu ulcerated

But what looks like a burial of this law on pesticides has not only provoked cheerful reactions. Thus the former MEP Éric Andrieu, who, for a decade in Parliament, struggled precisely on this subject, did not hide his anger on Tuesday evening: "C’ is a denial of what she committed to during her mandate" he first commented, referring to the choice of Ursula von der Leyen.

Which he considers as a renunciation:"She still supported the Green deal, her green pact, and this objective of reducing pesticides by 50%. And it wasn’t about reducing for the sake of reducing. But because all the lights were red in terms of health and biodiversity, for bees in particular, as shown by all the studies carried out by serious and independent laboratories.< /p>

In France, the Ecophyto plan suspended

And to deplore: "She is in the campaign, she looks at where her strengths and weaknesses are. And at the moment, after agri-bashing, eco-bashing is developing. But it follows Macron's trajectory" concluded Audois.

In reference to the European summit last Thursday, when Emmanuel Macron urged the European authorities to hear the demands of farmers. And France itself suspended the implementation of the Ecophyto plan. It transposed to the national level the European objectives in terms of reducing the use of pesticides.

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