The European Commission is shelving plans to cut pesticide use and is taking the pressure off agriculture in its latest emissions recommendations, as farmers around Europe continue protests demanding higher prices for their products and an easing of EU environment rules.
The original proposal to halve chemical pesticide use in the EU by the end of the decade – part of the EU’s green transition – “has become a symbol of polarization,” said the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. She added that she would ask the commission to withdraw the proposal.
Separately on Tuesday, the commission recommended that the EU slash net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 but without the stipulation from previous drafts that farming would need to cut non-CO2 emissions by 30% from 2015 levels in order to comply.
The moves mark the bloc’s latest environmental concessions to farmers, whose recent protests across Europe in countries including France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, and Greece spread this week to Spain and Italy.
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