(Updated with reactions)

The European Parliament rejected a text for a proposal to limit EU use of pesticides on Wednesday, in a vote that divided lawmakers amid similar tensions to those seen earlier in the year for the bloc’s nature restoration bill.

The full Parliament voted to entirely reject the European Commission’s proposal by 299 votes against, 207 in favour, and 121 abstentions.

“This is a dark day for the health of society as a whole, for the environment, and also for farmers who need to be freed from the terms of agro industry,” commented the Parliament’s rapporteur Sarah Wiener (Greens), who has been steering the proposal through the assembly.

During the vote, the leading MEP and her shadow rapporteurs from other political groups briefly halted proceedings to discuss a possible compromise, but reached no consensus on that.

After the vote, Wiener asked a referral back to environment committee for reconsideration, but the MEPs also rejected that option.

On Tuesday a parliamentary debate on the issue showed MEPs were divided over the effects that the bill would have on farming. In particular, the centre-right EPP group criticised Wiener’s proposal, arguing it would threaten food security.

DEAD OR DELAY

With this vote, Parliament has closed its first reading without taking a position, a move that at best is likely to considerably delay the passage of the bill.

If the Council of member states formally adopts its general approach at first reading in December as planned, the file will come back to Parliament for the second reading.

In a press conference later on Wednesday, Wiener told Carbon Pulse that she “did everything” she could, but “for this parliamentary term, this [bill] is now dead” as there won’t be enough time to discuss another version of the proposal before next EU elections in June 2024.

Yet, she added that her group is “trying everything to get something out of this, but you’d have to have a trilogue by February and I don’t think we could”, referring to the potential for Parliament to agree on a position ahead of that trilogue to reconcile a final text with the Council and Commission.

Wiener explained that her proposal wasn’t to have a complete pesticides ban in sensitive areas and that she “did show flexibility” to those wary about regulating.

“I know that the majority of Europeans want reduction in pesticides, I know it’s possible and farming have all the resources, we are not calling for something which isn’t feasible.”

Calling her report her “child”, Wiener said it “was unrecognisable by the end of this process”.

“I really bent over backwards to try to find a compromise and yet it still wasn’t possible. That was what was truly shocking,” she told reporters, appearing to hold back tears as she described receiving anonymous death threats from the public that considered her proposals too ambitious.

“I have hopes that time will show that this [rejection] was the wrong decision.”

REACTIONS

From the centre-right EPP, German MEP Peter Liese welcomed the Parliament’s rejection and said “farmers can be relieved for now”.

However, his Portuguese colleague Lidia Pereira suggested that the group would have accepted an even softer version of the bill.

“The left camp of the Parliament and the far-right killed the chance to improve sustainable use of plant protection products in this term,” she said.

Slow Food, an organisation promoting local food and traditional cooking, pointed out that the rejection goes against science, with the agriculture chapter in the IPCC’s climate science report saying “emissions per hectare can also be reduced by adopting cropping systems with reduced reliance on fertilisers, pesticides and other inputs”.

“A majority in the Parliament has decided to side with the agroindustry and its allies, who have lobbied against this proposal over the last two years, ignoring the scientific consensus on the need to transform our current food system,” said Slow Food’s advocacy director Madeleine Coste.

“It is outrageous that scientists’ and citizens’ voices are ignored in this way, and a worrying prospect for the fate of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, and the transition to sustainable food systems.”

Clara Bourgin, campaigner at environment NGO Friends of the Earth Europe, also said “conservative MEPs delivered today the final blow to the crucial pesticide reduction law”.

“We’re now back to square one, with no proposal to tackle the biodiversity crisis, secure long-term food security and protect people’s health,” she added.

Kristine De Schamphelaere, policy officer of agriculture at Pesticide Action Europe (PAN), said the decision marked a “historical black day” for the EU.

“The rejection of the proposal shows a shocking disregard for science, the public interest and the will of EU citizens. Most votes were guided by vested interests,” she said.

PAN claimed the EU farming union had campaigned against the proposal with the effect of “many MEPs echoing unfounded narratives, instead of advocating for science and the public interest”.

By Emanuela Barbiroglio – emanuela@carbon-pulse.com