Swedish Minister of Agriculture, Peter Kullgren, states that the earlier request from the EU agriculture ministers for additional calculations is causing delays. At most, there will only be a proposal concerning parts for which the new calculations do not apply.
EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides (Food Safety) must respond to the agriculture ministers' request for supplementary research by mid-March at the latest, but there will be no European Agriculture Council meeting before then.
Chairman Norbert Lins of the Agriculture Committee has therefore informed Parliament President Roberta Metsola that his committee will not issue an opinion on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation (SUR) proposal until the additional research is completed. The file is not formally on the agenda of the AGRI committee, which is meeting Monday and Tuesday in Brussels.
In response, Pascal Canfin, chair of the ENVI environment committee, has pointed out to Parliament President Metsola that the package falls under the jurisdiction of his ENVI committee, and that the AGRI rapporteurs and agriculture ministers are effectively sabotaging the parliamentary work.
Canfin also noted that despite the ministers' request for more information, the Swedish Presidency two weeks ago still spoke in the ENVI committee of the “most likely target for a progress report in June.” The agriculture ministers will only meet at the end of March. If Sweden cannot conclude the matter, it will fall to Spain in the second half of the year.
“The AGRI committee's intention to suspend parliamentary work on the proposal would jeopardize the completion of this important legislation in the current term,” Canfin said. According to current procedures, a request for additional research can cause a delay of six months, after which the European Commission may still decide to submit the proposal for trilogue treatment.
Previously, Commissioners Kyriakides, Timmermans, and Sinkevicius stated they are not pursuing a crash course but are willing to compromise with ministers and politicians in tripartite talks. Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski has already clarified that there will be no ‘total ban’ anywhere, and that the use of chemicals remains permissible ‘as a last resort.’
NB: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the SUR proposal also concerns the reduction of fertilizer.