2023-11-22 22:02:26
The surprise is total. And even his fiercest opponents on the right of the political spectrum did not expect it. The European Parliament rejected, on Wednesday November 22, one of the central elements of the “Green Deal” and its agricultural counterpart, “from farm to fork”, the new regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides. Initially proposed in June 2022 by the European Commission, it notably provided for a 50% reduction in the use of phytosanitary products by 2030.
“It’s an astonishing twist of theaterrecognized François-Xavier Bellamy, of the European People’s Party (EPP), after the vote. And it was the promoters of tougher regulations who voted against the text. Our delegation, which is in favor of more protective regulations, while remaining pragmatic and realistic, voted for…”
“I would never have imagined such a massacre of this text, amendment after amendment. This is why, with death in our souls, we voted against”explained, stunned after a session of more than three hours of voting, Sarah Wiener (The Greens), the Austrian regulatory rapporteur. “They are killing the whole Green Deal. Lobbyists rather than health and the environment. Feeling of disgust »reacted, at the end of the vote, Manon Aubry, of La France insoumise (La Gauche), on the social network X.
Group discipline not respected
To understand this snub, we have to rewind. Since the presentation of this project by the Commission, discussions on the preparation of the vote had been punctuated by numerous debates on the realism of such an objective, the means put in place to achieve it and the variation of the reduction targets. use of phytosanitary products in each country of the European Union (EU). And this in an atmosphere of toughness towards ecology, considered increasingly “punitive” by part of public opinion in different countries.
Before the vote, Sarah Wiener remained confident in the idea of establishing a first constraint at the European level, while until now only three countries, including France, have put in place policies to reduce the use of phytosanitary products. But group discipline was not respected, and the traditional majority, which ranges from the Renew group to the far left, completely exploded a few months before the European elections.
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“The six key amendments aimed at weakening the text and its application, all tabled by the right, were all supported well beyond the right, to our great surprise,” we admit within the EPP. Socialist elected officials, particularly from the south and east of Europe, where traditional agriculture remains very important, but also liberal elected officials (from the Renew group) from the north of the EU, worried about a weakening of agriculture in the continent, joined the right and the extreme right to reduce the scope of the text: postponement to 2035 of the entry into force of the regulations, modification of the reference years to implement the reduction objectives, avoid the protection of areas sensitive…
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