Updated 18.37 | Published 18.10
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The EU Parliament rejects the proposal to halve the amount of pesticides by 2030.
A victory for agriculture, the majority think. On the contrary, the opponents believe.
The European Commission’s proposal was voted down by 299 votes to 207 in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday. With 324 votes against 292, they also voted no to let the member responsible for the proposal make another attempt at committee level.
In practice, the proposal has therefore been implemented for this term, given the upcoming EU elections at the beginning of June next year.
Already during the preparatory votes, the original proposal had been watered down considerably, among other things to remove extra tough requirements for pesticides around “sensitive areas”, such as schools and nursing homes.
The winning side, mainly among the right-wing groups in parliament, is satisfied.
“The farmers can breathe a sigh of relief. No binding unrealistic demands for reduced use of plant protection products,” writes Swedish member Sara Skyttedal (KD) on X, formerly Twitter.
But the opponents, mostly on the left, are furious.
“An unforgivable betrayal of the Swedish farmers. Simply putting a stop to development is not serious agricultural policy. It is nothing but rural populism,” says Swedish Emma Wiesner (C) in a statement, and believes that the exceptions negotiated would have benefited the farmers in Sweden.