Briefings

The European Commission is planning to consolidate and streamline European statistic for agricultural products and inputs (SAIO). PAN Europe welcomes this effort of harmonisation and rationalisation of statistics. Nevertheless, it highlights the importance of obtaining more detailed and more independent statistics on the use of pesticides and exposure to monitor progress towards the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategy targets. Below we will explain how but call.

The consultation claims that ‘The preliminary results of the evaluation will be used to establish the baseline situation for the impact assessment, refine the problem definition and the policy options and feed into their analysis.’ In the roadmap to the Farm to Fork Strategy, it emerges that this initiative will be concluded in Q1 of 2022.

Against this backdrop, Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) and its members wonder why the European Commission is considering to make an impact assessment.

PAN Europe proposes that the Commission aligns the EU promotion of agricultural products with the European Green Deal, therefore focusing on the promotion of circular and sustainable models rather than on competitiveness, with a special focus on pesticide use reductions. Below we explain how.

The European Commission’s promotion programme should be suspended until sustainability criteria are fully integrated

PAN Europe proposes that the Commission aligns the 2021 work programme on promotion of agricultural products with the European Green Deal and therefore focuses on promotion of circular and sustainable models rather than on competitiveness. Furthermore, since tourism has been particularly hit by the impact of COVID-19, and rural agricultural areas have a lot to offer while guaranteeing social distancing, we propose to consider promoting sustainable concepts – connecting farmers and citizens - rather than products. 

The European Green Deal published by the European Commission in December 2019 calls for a significant reduction in the risk and use of chemical pesticides as a key to kick off the ecological transition. This briefing aims at giving recommendations on how this can happen.

PAN Europe took part at the EU Expert Stakeholder Survey on the Fitness Check of the EU Legislation with regard to Endocrine Disruptors. 

Read more>>

PAN Europe welcomes that the new European Commission has started its five years in office with a consultation on biodiversity; we hope that this means putting biodiversity first on the EU agenda to underline the argument in the European Green Deal that ‘The EU has the collective ability to transform its economy and society to put it on a more sustainable path’.

The European Commission misleadingly claims a 20% reduction in risks posed by pesticides in the EU. Yesterday the European Commission published - for the first time - trends in the newly established Harmonised Risk Indicators intending to measure the evolution of the risks posed by pesticides in EU Member States.

PAN Europe recalls that precision farming as standing alone will neither be able to fulfil the requirements of the EU Directive on Sustainable Use of Pesticides nor be able to encourage the transition towards a more ecological model of farming that the EU desperately needs. Instead, precision farming will ‘only’ be able to help farmers stop overuse of pesticides allowing farmers to spray less.

PAN Europe recognises that EUs Common Agricultural Policy contains instruments like the Farm Advisory System and the European Innovative Partnership which can help to inform, train, and advise farmers. We nevertheless consider that huge steps need to be achieved before these tools become effectively operational. We also consider that these tools standing alone will not be able to encourage the transition that the European model of farming so desperately needs.