Von der Leyen withdraws contentious pesticide law amid right-wing backlash and farmer protests

euronews (in English)

Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday the withdrawal of a contentious law that aimed to reduce the use of pesticides across the European Union, marking the first defeat of the Green Deal.

Transcript

00:00 The EU's proposal to reduce the use of pesticides is the first to fall victim to farmers' protests.

00:07 The plan aimed to halve pesticide use by 2030 with the goal of reducing biodiversity loss.

00:16 It is the first defeat for the European Green Deal, the European Commission's flagship environmental policy.

00:25 This is how Ursula von der Leyen announced the withdrawal of the law, known as SURE.

00:30 The Commission proposed SURE, which is the worthy aim to reduce the risks of chemical plant production products.

00:41 But the SURE proposal has become a symbol of polarization. It has been rejected by the European Parliament.

00:51 There is no progress anymore in the Council either. And that is why I will propose to the College to withdraw this proposal.

01:00 The law already received a fatal blow last November, when the European Parliament voted down its own position on the text,

01:08 leaving it with virtually no chance of going ahead. Negotiations between EU capitals were also at a deadlock.

01:16 The main farmers' organization, Copacocheca, complained that the proposal imposed targets from above

01:21 and was poorly designed, poorly evaluated, poorly financed and offered few alternatives to farmers.

01:27 It doesn't take into account the reality on the spot, because all of us, I think, we want to reduce the use of chemical pesticides.

01:38 But the question is what we replace with what, this kind of pesticides, in order to give to the farmers the possibility to continue their work.

01:51 But increasing loss of biodiversity, including key pollinators for agriculture, casts doubt on whether this is the best move for the planet.

02:00 Green parties believe it's not.

02:06 They claim that it is in the name of the interests of the farmers. Well, I don't know whether farmers will see it the same way.

02:14 Of course, they are over-reliant on pesticides, but as you know, pesticides, there is a side thing in the word which means killer, right?

02:23 So it can't be a good thing.

02:25 Farmers' protests continued to spread across Europe on Tuesday, after reaching Brussels last Thursday.

02:33 [Music]

02:39 [MUSIC PLAYING]

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