Dear Member of the European Parliament,
We the above organisations encourage you to say ‘yes’ to the European Commission proposal to ban pesticide use in Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) and support the respective amendments to the delegated (EU) Regulation 639/2014, as proposed by the European Commission.
In the 2013 reform of the CAP, the idea of a greening component was introduced, whereby larger farms must provide areas “to safeguard and improve biodiversity on farms” within EFAs. This is a concept which could be considered similar to the ‘sensitive areas’ agreed upon in the Cardiff European Council (June 1998) almost 20 years ago, when the first, tentative steps towards sustainable agriculture in the EU were taken - with recognition that pesticides negatively influence on biodiversity protection, among others. [1]