The largest MEP grouping in the European Parliament has said it rejects the European Commission’s plans to enact a nature restoration law and reduce pesticide usage at a group assembly in Germany on Friday.
The European Peoples’ Party (EPP) maintains it will be a “defender of European farmers” when rejecting the Commission’s proposal to bring in a sustainable use of pesticides regulation.
Food security concerns were cited in its opposition to the Commission’s proposal to use a sustainable use of pesticides regulation to halve spray use in line with the EU's Farm to Fork 2030 target.
It claims the 50% cut proposed by Brussels is “simply not feasible” and that alternatives to sprays put forward in the proposals are not good enough for farmers.
Reductions in pesticide usage should be based on efficiency and incentivised through agri-environmental schemes, rather than by imposing mandatory cuts, the resolution states.
Nature restoration
The group labelled elements of the Commission’s plans for a nature restoration law as a “direct assault on private property rights”.
It said that in many regions of the EU, existing nature legislation has led to a “bureaucratic nightmare and planning deadlock”, which endangers the viability of rural areas.
This deadlock must be addressed before any additional nature legislation can be brought forward, the EPP maintains.
The planned nature restoration law sets out targets for the rewetting of drained, farmed peatlands that could see tens of thousands of hectares rewet in Ireland.
A stronger CAP was also called for by the group to act as a driver of sustainable farming practices.
One in four MEPs
Some 175 MEPs out of the 705 total are members of the group, including the current European Parliament’s president Roberta Metsola and president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Ireland has five MEPs who are members of the umbrella group, all of which represent Fine Gael.
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The largest MEP grouping in the European Parliament has said it rejects the European Commission’s plans to enact a nature restoration law and reduce pesticide usage at a group assembly in Germany on Friday.
The European Peoples’ Party (EPP) maintains it will be a “defender of European farmers” when rejecting the Commission’s proposal to bring in a sustainable use of pesticides regulation.
Food security concerns were cited in its opposition to the Commission’s proposal to use a sustainable use of pesticides regulation to halve spray use in line with the EU's Farm to Fork 2030 target.
It claims the 50% cut proposed by Brussels is “simply not feasible” and that alternatives to sprays put forward in the proposals are not good enough for farmers.
Reductions in pesticide usage should be based on efficiency and incentivised through agri-environmental schemes, rather than by imposing mandatory cuts, the resolution states.
Nature restoration
The group labelled elements of the Commission’s plans for a nature restoration law as a “direct assault on private property rights”.
It said that in many regions of the EU, existing nature legislation has led to a “bureaucratic nightmare and planning deadlock”, which endangers the viability of rural areas.
This deadlock must be addressed before any additional nature legislation can be brought forward, the EPP maintains.
The planned nature restoration law sets out targets for the rewetting of drained, farmed peatlands that could see tens of thousands of hectares rewet in Ireland.
A stronger CAP was also called for by the group to act as a driver of sustainable farming practices.
One in four MEPs
Some 175 MEPs out of the 705 total are members of the group, including the current European Parliament’s president Roberta Metsola and president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
Ireland has five MEPs who are members of the umbrella group, all of which represent Fine Gael.
Read more
Grass-based farms set to be excluded from EU permit system
Defending farmers is an uphill battle in Brussels, IFA warns
Agri MEPs reject tighter emissions rules for farmers
Ambitious EU nature restoration law would result in seismic shift in farming
Restoration measures cannot be forced on farmers – EU farmer group
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