With the rejection of the European Commission’s proposal on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products (SUR) in plenary, MEPs sent a decisive message: the lack of dialogue, the imposition of objectives from above, the refusal to assess the impact and the lack of funding for agricultural proposals must end now!   

"EU farmers and agri-cooperatives will continue to improve their environmental sustainability, but they need realistic objectives and the necessary support, two elements that are completely missing from the Commission’s text": from Copa-Cogeca have consistently denounced the gap between political rhetoric and the lack of concrete solutions of this proposal.

Right up until the end, MEPs tried to improve the proposal with plethoric voting lists, but MEPs rightly realised that this would not be enough. They thus decided not to send it back to the responsible Committee, but to the Commission itself. All this polarisation could have been avoided and solutions found without the ideological obstinacy of a few decision-makers during the whole process!  

The strategic dialogue sought by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is now more crucial than ever. Solutions can only be found through dialogue with farmers and their cooperatives, not by imposing disconnected objectives from the top with no solutions!