On February 6th 2024, the European Commission announced it would withdraw its proposal for the Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), delaying by years urgently needed action to reduce the use and risks of synthetic pesticides in Europe.

125 organisations, including environmental groups like Friends of the Earth Europe and Justice Pesticides, beekeepers, farmer organisations and trade unions, signed a joint statement condemning the failure of the EU to adopt an ambitious pesticide reduction regulation. Backtracking on environmental ambition is the wrong answer to the farmers’ mobilisations across Europe, and will only further lock farming in unsustainable practices that impact farmers’ health while destroying biodiversity and the ecosystems on which our food production depends.

We call on the European Commission to keep the focus on the real issues faced by farmers, including fair incomes, while accelerating the transition towards resilient food systems and ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all. An ambitious regulation at the European level for reducing pesticide use, aligned with the Farm to Fork objectives and the post-2020 Global Biodiversity targets, is urgently needed to make this transition possible, and must remain a priority of the next EU mandate.

Read the full open letter HERE