News

On 06/07/2023, the European Commission published an additional study on the impact of the implementation of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (SUR) rules on food security. The European Commission was invited by the Council of the EU during the Czech Presidency to submit a supplementary study. According to the European Commission, within the timeframe of the SUR targets for pesticide reduction, sufficient tools will be available to achieve the required reduction in chemical pesticide use and risks without unacceptable consequences for food security or food availability. Conversely, the Commission considers that any failure to meet the pesticide reduction targets will have long-term and potentially irreversible impacts on EU food security in the future. The European Commission reports that Member States have already made significant progress in meeting these targets, with a 33% reduction in the use of plant protection products and their risks compared to the 2015-2017 period, and a 21% reduction in the most dangerous pesticides. Nevertheless, the Commission states that more work needs to be done on pesticide reduction. In a complementary study, the Commission acknowledges the risk of increased administrative burden, but offers solutions to reduce costs for SMEs.
More information is available here.

The law on combating deforestation and forest degradation due to production and consumption in the Union entered into force on 29/06/2023. In its statement, the European Commission says that if companies export or place on the European market palm oil, cattle, soy, coffee, cocoa, wood and rubber or products made from them, such as beef, furniture or chocolate, they will have to carry out strict due diligence to demonstrate that these products do not contribute to deforestation or forest degradation. Operators now have 18 months to prepare for the implementation of the new rules.
More information is available here.

On 27/06/2023, the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (COMENVI) continued its vote on the European Commission's proposal on the Nature Restoration Law. The vote followed on from the incomplete vote of 15/06/2023, when, following a tie, it was necessary to proceed to a vote on individual amendments. The European Commission proposal was rejected by the COMENVI Committee on 27/06/2023 by 44 votes to 44, the closest possible result. The Commission's proposal was therefore rejected by COMENVI, as well as earlier by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (COMAGRI) and the Committee on Fisheries (COMPECH). The European Parliament will now vote on its position during the plenary vote in Strasbourg on 12/07/2023, and a very close result is again expected from the European agricultural organisations. Both representatives of environmental NGOs and representatives of European agricultural organisations have already indicated in the past week that they will seek a majority for the adoption of the opinion (environmental organisations) or, on the contrary, for its rejection (agricultural organisations).

Sweden completes its Presidency of the Council of Ministers on 30/06/2023, with Spain taking over the Presidency from 01/07/2023. The last Agriculture Council under the Swedish Presidency took place on 26/06/2023, and among the items discussed was a progress report on the negotiations on the sustainable use of pesticides. Ministers generally welcomed the Swedish Presidency's report, but for some ministers the results achieved so far were not ambitious enough. The progress report summarises the results of the discussions in the Council and in the working groups concerned, which include support for strengthening member states' flexibility in implementing the rules (e.g., the possibility of adopting guidelines for specific crops or smaller sectors), simplifying the rules or reducing the administrative burden. Unlike the European Commission, which proposed in its proposal that the rules for sustainable use of pesticides in national plans should be set to cover at least 90% of the cultivated agricultural area, the Council of Ministers opted for a more lenient 75%. However, agriculture ministers from IE, DK and BG said negotiations would need to continue and be more ambitious on some of the more sensitive aspects of the European Commission's proposal, such as the chapters on sensitive areas. Negotiations in the Council are likely to continue throughout the Spanish presidency, and according to European agricultural organisations, an extension of the negotiations until the first half of 2024, when Belgium will hold the Council presidency, is not excluded. The European Commission is expected to present on 05/07/2023 a complementary impact study, which it was invited to present by the Czech Presidency of the Council in December 2022.
Progress report is available here.

On 26/06/2023, during the Council of Ministers, the Ministers of Agriculture called for a change in the legal protection of large carnivores due to their increasing populations and thus increased threat to livestock. The call for a legal change was made by Romania with the support of CZ and SK through the document "Growing populations of large carnivores and the threat they pose to humans and animals - the need for action", with further support for the document from AT, DK, LV, BE, BG, PL, HU, CR, EE and ES at the meeting. Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius pointed out that some Member States had not taken advantage of the support offered by the European Commission under the Common Agricultural Policy instruments.