‘Symbol of polarisation’: EU scraps plans to halve use of pesticides

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 polarisation”, 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.

Last week, in response to the protests, the bloc announced plans to limit market disruption from Ukrainian products entering the EU and delayed rules on setting aside more land to promote soil health and encourage biodiversity.

Protests continued to spread on Tuesday. In Spain, thousands of farmers used WhatsApp groups to stage a series of informal protests, blocking off major roads around the country. Among the signs displayed by the tractors was one that read: “Our end will mean your hunger!”

Demonstrations cut off roads in the regions of Madrid, Catalonia, Andalucía, Valencia, La Rioja, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. They also blockaded the port of Málaga and obstructed access to a massive wholesale market in Valladolid.

Greek farmers also said on Tuesday they would block motorways and converge on Athens in their tractors after dozens of farmers’ federations voted to take concerted action at a meeting in the central city of Larissa, the state news agency ANA said.

In Italy, farmers from argricultural regions protesting about red tape and cheap non-EU imports have begun converging on Rome, with tractors sporting the Italian flag and banners with slogans such as “No farmer, no food.”

Farmers say they face a storm of challenges, including falling product prices, rising energy, fertiliser and transport costs, cheap foreign imports, all-powerful retailers and excessive European and national regulations.

Individual member states have also taken steps to appease angry farmers, with Germany watering down plans to cut diesel subsidies. Meanwhile, Paris is scrapping a planned diesel tax increase and promising more than €400m (£342m) in targeted help.

The task of drafting proposals on pesticide legislation is likely to fall to the next commission. Von der Leyen said on Tuesday they had made little progress over the past two years in the European parliament or the European Council, representing EU member states.

Far-right and anti-establishment parties, which are projected to make major gains in June’s European parliamentary elections, have picked up on farmers’ grievances as part of a wider drive against EU influence, pushing them to the top of the bloc’s agenda. A new commission will be formed after the June vote.

“Many [farmers feel] pushed into a corner,” von der Leyen acknowledged, adding that farmers “deserve to be listened to”. But Europe’s agriculture needed to move to a more sustainable model of production that was more eco-friendly, she said.

Unions in Spain said more widespread protests would begin on Thursday and would last until 22 February. “We’re trying to explain our grievances in a concrete, concise and unanimous way,” said Donanciano Dujo, the vice-president of the Asaja farming association.

“Once we’ve gone beyond the provincial and regional level, we’ll take the protests national and then we’ll go to Brussels.” Among the farmers’ demands is a revision of the European green deal, which they say “forces us to abandon productive lands, to drastically reduce pesticides and fertilisers, and is an attack on meat consumption”.

Italian farmers also want the reinstatement of an income tax exemption scrapped in the government’s 2024 budget. “Our vehicles will converge around the capital,” said Danilo Calvani, one of their leaders. “Next week, there will be a big demonstration in Rome.”

In the financial hub of Milan, farmers paraded a cow during a demonstration outside the offices of the Lombardy regional government. The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said Italy had outperformed some of its EU counterparts in supporting farmers.

In the Netherlands, hundreds of Dutch farmers blocked motorways, dumped rubbish on main roads and started fires in protests around the country that began late on Monday and in some places continued on Tuesday, police and Dutch media reported.

Several people were injured in traffic accidents related to the protests, according to De Telegraaf, including two who needed hospital treatment after collisions that local authorities blamed on thick smoke from burning hay bales and wooden pallets.

“Fires have been lit, fireworks set off and agricultural vehicles are driving on the highway,” police in the central Gelderland region said, adding that “action has been taken”. Several access ramps to the main A1 motorway remained blocked on Tuesday.

Tractors also blocked the A7 motorway at several points and rubble was dumped on slip roads, the public broadcaster NOS said. Press photographers at one protest near Groningen told local media they were subjected to threats and intimidation.