Eco Hvar

EU Parliament and Pesticides

Published in Notices

Who supported farmers, people and nature? If you care about human health and the environment, be informed and use your vote wisely!

EU Parliament and Pesticides

Check out the voting records of the European Parliamentary Parties in key areas of concern using this invaluable information tool.

Ahead of the EU elections, PAN Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, and Corporate Europe Observatory present a set of voting score cards by political group on the pesticide reduction proposal. These scorecards show which share of political groups supported a strong law, and which ones contributed to the ultimate abandonment of it.

The high use of pesticides is a major problem in our current food system, causing harm to and failing farmers, consumers, and future generations.

Recently, the EU introduced a new plan on pesticides – the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR) – to cut pesticide use and risk by half in the EU and protect people and nature.

However, this proposal was severely watered down and ultimately failed to pass in the European Parliament. This means a failure to respond to the demand by over 1 million citizens for the EU to drastically reduce pesticide use and to support farmers in this transition.

Ahead of the EU elections, PAN Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe, and Corporate Europe Observatory today present a set of voting score cards by political groupon the pesticide reduction proposal. These scorecards show which share of political groups supported a strong law, and which ones contributed to the ultimate abandonment of it.

We chose six amendments on a variety of key aspects of the law, for which voting results per MEP were available. Score cards have also been produced for specific EU member states, showing voting results by national party: in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

These are the results:

Using pesticides as a last resort

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a set of tools designed to reduce the use of pesticides by placing preventative agronomic measures at the heart of pest control, with pesticides used only as a very last resort. Although IPM is already mandatory through the current Directive (the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive) it has not been properly implemented by Member States. The new pesticide regulation aimed to further define and concretize crop-specific IPM rules, ensuring IPM is effectively applied. The following graph shows which percentage of the political groups supported - or not - these mandatory rules.

 Protecting nature areas and public spaces

The proposed new law would ban the use of pesticides in sensitive areas such as nature protected areas, public areas, parks and playgrounds. This measure aimed to better protect citizens, especially vulnerable groups, and our ecosystems. The following graph illustrates which percentage of the political groups supported this essential protection.

 

Protecting water sources

Pesticide pollution in water poses severe risks to public health and ecosystems, and incurs significant costs for society. The graph below shows which percentage of political groups voted in favor of measures to better protect water sources from pesticide contamination.

Making supermarkets also responsible for pesticides reduction

The responsibility of reducing pesticide use should be shared across the food supply chain, such as the food industry and supermarkets - certainly not on farmers alone. The following graph illustrates which percentage of political groups supported holding wholesalers, food producers and supermarkets also accountable for reducing pesticide use.

 

Providing yearly independent advice for farmers

In the last decades, publicly funded advisory systems for farmers have largely been replaced by private services linked to pesticide corporations, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. Regular independent advice is crucial to help break free from the pesticide industry’s grip and support farmers in adopting alternative practices. The following graph shows which percentages of MEPs were in support of farmers receiving at least once a year independent advice, instead of every three years.

Raising the ambition for the reduction of the most harmful pesticides

The graph below shows which MEPs voted against an amendment to set a higher reduction target for the most harmful pesticides, to 65% by 2030 instead of 50%. For these highly toxic pesticides, a 50% reduction is far from ambitious enough to protect citizens, farmers and nature, and a full phase out is necessary.

Conclusion

On all topics, the large majority or all of the christian-democratic EPP group, the conservative (to far-right) ECR and the far-right ID group voted consistently against the interests of people. These groups do not even support farmers getting regular independent advice on pesticides, or a higher reduction of the most harmful ones! Undermining urgently needed measures to reduce pesticide use harms the well-being of citizens, the health of our ecosystems and a long term perspective for farmers. As citizens across Europe head to the EU elections polls for, voters should be aware of how political groups (mis)represented their interests when given the opportunity.

Voters from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Spain also have the possibility to check out how MEPs from their national parties voted.

Voters from all EU countries can also check how individual MEPs voted in an overview table.

AND DON'T FORGET THE BEES!

You can also check the voting records of MEPs in relation to the vital issue of bee protection: to choose the country click here, then you can check on that country's individual MEPs..

The record has been compiled by Bee Life Europe with these intentions: "As European citizens prepare to exercise their democratic rights at the polls (6-9 June 2024), it is crucial to recognise the significant role this election plays in shaping the future of environmental protection and the survival of bees. Our investigation into the voting patterns of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) on bee-related matters has led to the creation of a practical tool to empower citizens to cast a bee-friendly vote, knowing that their choice can make a real difference.

This website analyses the voting records of MEPs on policies relevant to bees, pollinators, and beekeeping based on their behaviour over the last five years of the legislature. It shows how coherent they have been in protecting bees, the planet, and EU farming. In this 2024 elections, vote informed.

The newly developed tool is designed to simplify your understanding of MEPs' stance on bee issues. Based on their voting records, it assigns a score from 0 to 100 (0 being the most detrimental to bees and 100 the most beneficial). You can easily search for individual MEPs, explore voting trends by country, and even track the voting patterns of political groups at the European Parliament.

 
 
 
More in this category: « DONKEY APPEAL - APEL ZA MAGARCE! ECO HVAR AND THE LAW »
back to top
You are here: Home notices EU Parliament and Pesticides

Eco Environment News feeds

  • ‘These trees may not survive’: Jordan’s ancient olive harvest wilts under record-breaking heat

    Extreme heat and drought has destroyed 70% of Jordan’s olive crop, endangering livelihoods of 80,000 families and a centuries-old tradition

    Abu Khaled al-Zoubi, 67, walks slowly through his orchard in Irbid, northern Jordan, his footsteps kicking up dust from the parched earth beneath centuries-old olive trees. He stops at a gnarled trunk, its bark split and peeling from months of unrelenting heat.

    He points out that the branches should be sagging under the weight of ripening fruit, but instead they stretch upward, nearly bare, with only a few shrivelled olives clinging to the withered stems.

    Continue reading...

  • Ten English fire services tackled record number of grass, forest and crop fires in 2025

    Fire chief says summer, the UK’s hottest on record, was ‘one of the most challenging for wildfires that we’ve ever faced’

    Ten English fire services tackled a record number of grassland, woodland and crop fires during what was the UK’s hottest spring and summer on record, figures show.

    In total nearly 27,000 wildfires were dealt with by fire services in England during the prolonged dry weather of 2025, according to analysis by PA Media.

    Continue reading...

  • EU’s new ‘green tariff’ rules on high-carbon goods come into force

    The ‘border adjustment mechanism’ aims to create a level playing field while also encouraging decarbonisation

    The biggest shake-up of green trade rules for decades comes into force today, as companies selling steel, cement and other high-carbon goods into the EU will have to prove they comply with low-carbon regulations or face fines.

    But a lack of clarity on how the rules will be applied, and the failure of the UK government to strike a deal with Brussels over the issue, could lead to confusion in the early stages, experts warned.

    Continue reading...

  • Often brutal, always beautiful: the sea hounds of the Frisian Islands – in pictures

    For 10 years, the scientist and photographer Jeroen Hoekendijk has been observing pinnipeds such as seals and walruses on the fragile North Sea archipelago stretching along the Dutch, German and Danish coastline. A remainder of the now-drowned Doggerland, left behind after the ice age, the low-lying islands are an advance warning sign of the warming and rising seas of the climate crisis

    Continue reading...

  • Country diary: A novel way to farm this ‘black desert’ | Sara Hudston

    Greinton, Somerset Levels: Instead of drying the peat to make it fit for agriculture, a small group of farmers have decided to work with the wet

    It looks like nothing more than a few soggy acres of bulrush, brown and broken, edged by a striding line of electricity pylons. But this modest patch of reeds and weeds is at the forefront of a novel farming method that upends ideas about how to manage some of our wettest landscapes.

    For centuries people have worked to drain the Somerset Levels, transforming what was once a seasonal, shifting inland sea of islands, bogs and lakes into fertile pasture crossed by an intricate network of ditches, drains, rivers and rhynes. As usual in winter, December’s rain swept sheets of water across the lowest ground, leaving hedges and tracks sketched in broken lines on fallen sky.

    Continue reading...

  • It’s easy to feel powerless about climate chaos. Here’s what gives me hope | Nina Lakhani

    I’ve spent six years writing about environmental justice. The uncomfortable truth is that we’re not all in it together – but people power is reshaping the fight

    It’s been another year of climate chaos and inadequate political action. And it’s hard not to feel despondent and powerless.

    I joined the Guardian full time in 2019, as the paper’s first environmental justice correspondent, and have reported from across the US and the region over the past six years. It’s been painful to see so many families – and entire communities – devastated by fires, floods, extreme heat, sea level rise and food shortages. But what’s given me hope during these six years of reporting as both an environmental and climate justice reporter are the people fighting to save our planet from catastrophe – in their communities, on the streets and in courtrooms across the world.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘People are wrestling with the burden’: Japan pivots to focus on nuclear power ‘maximisation’ alongside renewables

    Post-Fukushima nuclear closures of dozens of reactors forced the country to rely heavily on imported fossil fuels

    Continue reading...

  • ‘The source of all life is here’: plan to mine lithium in Chilean salt flat sparks fears of water scarcity

    The Colla Indigenous people claim Rio Tinto’s plans to extract the key mineral will harm fragile ecosystems and livelihoods

    Miriam Rivera Bordones tends her goats in a dusty paddock in the russet mountains of Chile’s Atacama desert. She also keeps chickens and has planted quince and peach trees and grapevines, which are watered by a stream winding down the hills towards the Indigenous community of Copiapó.

    But now the huge British-Australian mining multinational Rio Tinto has signed a deal to extract lithium, the “white gold” of the energy transition, from a salt flat farther up the mountains, and she fears the project could affect the water sources of several communities in the area.

    Continue reading...

  • From rent to utility bills: the politicians and advocates making climate policy part of the affordability agenda

    As the Trump administration derides climate policy as a ‘scam’, emissions-cutting measures are gaining popularity

    A group of progressive politicians and advocates are reframing emissions-cutting measures as a form of economic populism as the Trump administration derides climate policy as a “scam” and fails to deliver on promises to tame energy costs and inflation.

    Climate politics were once cast as a test of moral resolve, calling on Americans to accept higher costs to avert environmental catastrophe, but that ignores how rising temperatures themselves drive up costs for working people, said Stevie O’Hanlon, co-founder of the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

    Continue reading...

  • How the climate crisis showed up in Americans’ lives this year: ‘The shift has been swift and stark’

    Guardian US readers share how global heating and biodiversity loss affected their lives in ways that don’t always make the headlines

    The past year was another one of record-setting heat and catastrophic storms. But across the US, the climate crisis showed up in smaller, deeply personal ways too.

    Campfires that once defined summer trips were never lit due to wildfire risks. There were no bites where fish were once abundant, forests turned to meadows after a big burn and childhood memories of winter wonderlands turned to slush.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2026 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.