A report released by the European Union Activity (EURACTIV) shows that the EU is promoting the revision of the pesticide regulatory framework in order to achieve the goals and plans of the EU-wide pesticide emission reduction.
In 2022, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive revision of the EU Regulation on Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUR), including reducing the amount and risk of harmful pesticides by 50% by 2030, and prohibiting the use of harmful pesticides in areas set as "sensitive".
Sarah Wiener, an environmental lawmaker, wrote a report of the European Parliament on February 6, 2023, which aims to increase the emission reduction target of 2030 "using more dangerous plant protection products" from 50% to 80%.
The harmful pesticides in the proposal include carcinogenic, neurotoxic or reproductive toxic products. The initiative calls for a general reduction of 80% in the use of synthetic pesticides, and the legislation is closer to the requirement of "Save Bees and Farmers", a recent citizen initiative.
At the same time, the draft also proposed a new name for this legislation. Wiener has changed from "regulations on the sustainable use of plant protection products" to "regulations on the use of pesticides". This is an attempt to protect regulators from "green washing" charges.
The draft also sets a stricter benchmark for measuring the relative emission reduction targets of each EU member state by 2030. Compared with 2015-2017, the document does not reduce the use of plant protection products, but takes 2018-2020 as the reference period.
Technical details are a highly controversial issue for EU member states. They stressed that countries that have done a lot in reducing pesticides in the past should not be punished for this.
In fact, postponing the reference period means that countries that have reduced their pesticide use from 2015 to 2018 will have to cut the already low pesticide use by another half in 2030.
The equally controversial proposal among EU member states is to completely ban chemical pesticides in "sensitive" areas.
Wiener's report is based on a conciliatory position. Except for special matters, less types of areas are classified as sensitive areas. Those areas that are protected for reasons unrelated to pesticides, such as historical sites or scenic reserves, should be excluded.
The dispute also called for "adjustment of conditions" and exemption from the general ban under certain conditions.
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