EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced today that the controversial directive, Sustainable Use Regulation (SUR), which sought to halve pesticide use by 2030, will be withdrawn. “The SUR proposal has become a symbol of polarization,” von der Leyen said in a speech at the European Parliament Plenary in Strasbourg, France. “It has been rejected by the European Parliament. There is no progress anymore in the [EU] Council either. So we have to do something.”
Von der Leyen shed crocodile tears over the suffering of European farmers, saying, “To move forward, more dialogue and a different approach is needed.” But the announced concession is a fake: The directive had already been rejected by the European Parliament, and it would not have survived the next step in the process, the “trialogue” among the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, and the EU Council (comprised of the heads of state or government), who would of course side with the EP.
