About ninety organizations from seventeen European countries are advocating for the gradual phasing out of synthetic crop protection agents. The organizations call for the use of pesticides to be reduced by half by 2025. By 2030, an 80 percent reduction should be achieved, with a complete ban on pesticides by 2035.
Additionally, the organizations are calling for more action to promote organic and sustainable farming. They are pushing for a European Citizens' Initiative and hope to have gathered enough signatures by the fall of 2020 to place the issue on the agenda of European politicians.
The European Citizens' Initiative includes a call to the European Commission to submit various legislative proposals. It involves a group of civil society organizations committed to the environment, health, agriculture, and beekeeping, including Friends of the Earth Europe and the Pesticide Action Network.
With their proposal for a phased, gradually implemented ban on pesticide use, the organizations differ from the often-heard pleas in the European Parliament for a much faster and more comprehensive ban. So far, this has met resistance from some agricultural EU countries that are reluctant to accept restrictions on farming.
This issue is expected to be high on the political agenda in the EU early next year because when setting the multiannual financial framework, a decision must also be made about whether or not to reduce agricultural subsidies and develop a new European Common Agricultural Policy.
According to the European Citizens' Initiative, farmers in Europe are under significant pressure due to various developments, such as low prices, lack of political support, and farm enlargement. Between 2005 and 2016, some four million small farms disappeared in the EU.
Furthermore, nature, various animal species, and ecosystems are under pressure. For the ECI, this is reason to call on the European Commission to introduce EU-wide laws. Within five years, pesticide use should be halved; within ten years, reduced by three-quarters; and within fifteen years, completely banned.
The European working group emphasizes that farmers must be supported to make the transition to a collective organic approach. To achieve this, 90 organizations from 17 European countries are joining forces. Through this initiative, the ECI aims to gather one million signatures within one year so that the EC and European Parliament must place the initiative on their agenda.
If the ECI has its way, the EU will prioritize small-scale, diverse, and sustainable farms. Ecological and organic agriculture should also be supported. Finally, the ECI hopes that independent training can be offered in pesticide- and GMO-free farming.