Europe’s largest political party has joined a growing backlash against Brussels’ plan to reverse damage to the environment, arguing it threatens food production and farmers’ livelihoods.
THE European People’s Party, which has the most seats in the European parliament and is in power in nine EU countries, is due on Friday to demand the scrapping of two flagship pieces of legislation proposed by its own European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The move could torpedo the commission’s plans to cut pesticide use in half and restore a fifth of damaged habitats across the bloc by 2030.
EPP delegates are expected to back a resolution during their two-day political assembly in Monaco, which starts on Thursday. “We reject the proposal on . . . pesticides as the chosen reduction targets are simply not achievable and the proposal does not offer farmers viable alternatives,” says the resolution seen by the Financial Times.
The commission accepted a new impact assessment because the capitals fear it reduce the use of pesticides will reduce crops. The EPP argued that the plans would make investment in agriculture unsafe. “Unsustainable cuts in plant protection products without realistic alternatives mean significant crop cuts,” the party document said.
The draft text also rejects the Commission’s proposed ‘nature restoration’ law, arguing that the existing legislation has created a ‘bureaucratic nightmare and planning deadlock, endangering food security, renewable energy production [and] critical infrastructure”. If implemented, the commission’s plan would eliminate production on 10% of agricultural land, the EPP said, including by planting hedgerows and flooding drained bogs used as pasture.
Taken together, both plans “will blow a big hole in already very meager farmers’ budgets, endanger the supply of European food and increase inflation,” said Herbert Dorfmann, the EPP’s agriculture spokesman in the European Parliament.
Nine commissioners, including von der Leyen, are members of the EPP. It has so far refused to curtail the EU’s Green Deal ambitions and its plan to cut carbon emissions by 55% between 1990 and 2030.
Other EPP politicians, including President Manfred Weber, argue that the war in Ukraine, which has fueled inflation and cut food production in the power of exports, it means that farmers should be free to maximize production.
He is also concerned about the rise of populist parties, allies say. The triumph of the peasant-citizen movement in the Dutch provincial elections in March sent a shock wave through centre-right parties relying on rural voters. Even in Poland, a strong ally of Ukraine, the ruling conservative PiS party has been challenged by angry farmers, prompting a rare U-turn on measures designed to help Ukrainian grain reach global markets.
EPP support is crucial for opponents of the two pieces of legislation to counter it in parliament. Out of 705 members, the centre-right group has 176 and more far-right parties another 128. The liberal Renew group supports the legislation but observers say it is divided, with around 30 of its 101 MEPs opposed. Renew said it was “fully committed” to the EU Green Deal.
If some independents vote with the EPP the proposals could fail unless the committee downgrades their scope. Some leftist MEPs have also opposed the climate legislation, bearing the cost cutting carbon emissions it is falling disproportionately on the poor.
The EPP has already won concessions on other green laws by voting against them.
Meanwhile, member states have rejected parts of the pesticides regulation, with the committee agreeing to relax a proposal to ban all plant protection products in public spaces and natural reserves.
Diplomats have also expressed concern restoration of nature in a meeting last week, some said it could collide with carbon reduction goals. They want guarantees that seabed restoration does not rule out the construction of offshore wind farms.
The commission said restoring biodiversity would help farmers in the long run as degraded habitats need more fertilizers and chemicals to stay productive. He argues that by preserving biodiversity, in line with international commitments, the bloc can ensure “sustainable growth” for future generations.
—————————————————-
Source link