EU Commission chief to withdraw the contested pesticide regulation

In a major blow to the EU’s Green Deal and Farm to Fork framework, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday (6 February) that she will withdraw the Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), which sought to halve pesticide use by 2030.

“The SUR proposal has become a symbol of polarisation,” von der Leyen said in a speech at the European Parliament Plenary in Strasbourg. “It has been rejected by the European Parliament. There is no progress anymore in the Council either. So we have to do something.”

Von der Leyen suggested the Commission could forge a new proposal with more input from stakeholders following weeks of protests from farmers unhappy with EU environmental regulations, and the starting of a ‘strategic dialogue’ with agrifood stakeholders.

“To move forward, more dialogue and a different approach is needed,” von der Leyen added.

The European branch of the Pesticide Action Network, an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to reducing pesticide use, called today a “black day for health and biodiversity”.

“The announcement of President Ursula von der Leyen to withdraw the Pesticide Reduction Law SUR represents the end of an appalling opposition, led by the agro-chemical industry, against a more healthy, future-proof agriculture for the EU,” their statement reads.

Lawmakers from the European People’s Party (EPP), on the other hand, welcomed the change, calling it “overdue, reasonable and relieving”  in a statement.

“This is a first good sign that the Commission will work with farmers to tackle climate change rather than against them,” MEP Alexander Bernhuber said in the statement.

“We have always said that it would be irresponsible to jeopardise European food production in the face of current crises through unrealistic requirements and bureaucracy,” he added.

The road to the dead end

The SUR was proposed as part of the EU’s flagship Farm to Fork strategy (a program to make food systems more environmentally friendly), but was voted down in Parliament last November after amendments to the SUR advanced by a conservative coalition fundamentally changed the substance of the text.

Parliament could not reach an agreement on a position and also voted not to continue working on the file.

Green MEPs and environmental groups like Friends of the Earth lamented the decision, while farmers associations celebrated.

Despite lacking a Parliament position, EU agriculture ministers tried to continue working on the Regulation under the leadership of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The Spanish Presidency changed the Commission’s original text in an attempt to foster compromise, including getting rid of national reduction targets. This meant some countries would be allowed to continue using more pesticides than others as long as the EU as a whole cut pesticide usage in half.

In January of this year, as the Belgians took over the Council Presidency reins from the Spanish, they proposed to save at least parts of the regulation, in particular those related to biocontrol products, the alternatives to chemical pesticides, with no success so far.

“I welcome the announcement of President von der Leyen to withdraw the SUR-regulation on pesticides,” said the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo in a post on X.

Von der Leyen’s decision is a “missed opportunity”, the president of the EP Environment Committee Pascal Canfin said in a statement.

“This is a mistake,” he added, “as we were about to thoroughly revise this text to only retain the parts related to alternatives to chemical pesticides by significantly accelerating authorization procedures for biocontrol products and allowing the reasoned use of precision farming tools”.

Von der Leyen’s decision means that the Commission’s 2009 directive on the sustainable use of pesticides will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Cover photo: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Tuesday (6 February) that she will ask to withdraw the Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), to halve pesticide use by 2030, dealing a major blow to the EU's Green Deal and Farm to Fork framework. [EPA-EFE/RONALD WITTEK]