The proposed Sur (Sustainable Use Regulation) regulation which will be withdrawn by the European Commission, as announced this morning in Strasbourg by President Ursula von der Leyen, dates back to June 2022 and aims to reduce the use and risk of pesticides in the EU, in in line with the objective of the Farm to Fork strategy, to have a “fair, healthy and environmentally friendly” food system, as the Commission explained at the time. The Farm to Fork strategy is one of the cornerstones of the Green Deal, the EU plan for a green transition of the continental economy. Sur is a regulation, and is therefore directly applicable in all member states, it should have replaced the Sud directive, which proved to be ineffective (directives are framework laws that each country transposes into its own legal system, adapting them).
The regulation set out legally binding EU-wide targets to halve the use and risk of chemical pesticides and the use of the most dangerous pesticides by 2030. Member States would have to set their own reduction targets within defined parameters, as well as their own strategies to ensure that the European-wide target (-50%) was collectively achieved. Stricter rules are (were) also foreseen to apply environmentally friendly pest control, ensuring that all farmers practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM), whereby all alternative methods Pest control measures are considered first, before chemical pesticides can be used as a last resort. The regulation also provides for a ban on the use of all pesticides in certain areas: the use of all pesticides is prohibited in sensitive areas (and within 3 meters of them), such as parks or public gardens, playgrounds, recreational areas or sports routes, public routes, as well as in ecologically sensitive areas.
The Commission assured that farmers would be supported by the EU's common agricultural policy (CAP) in this transition: for 5 years, member states will be able to use the CAP to cover the costs of the new requirements for farmers. The EU executive had decided to present the proposal for the Sur regulation because the existing rules on the directive on the sustainable use of pesticides (South) had proven to be “too weak”, being implemented unevenly. According to the Court of Auditors of the EU and the European Parliament, insufficient progress has been made in reducing the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment. A problem that “remains”, as underlined by President Ursula von der Leyen. The excessive use of pesticides damages, among other things, the populations of domestic bees, indispensable agents for pollination and producers of honey. According to the PAN (Pesticides Action Network), the proposed regulation was strongly opposed by the agrochemical industry and large agricultural companies.
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