Commission wants France to bear responsibility for its pledge to phase out glyphosate

Five EU Member States – France, Netherlands, Finland, Hungary and Sweden – look set to become "group rapporteurs" on the pesticide active substance glyphosate, it emerged at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (SCoPAFF) on January 24-25, according to a report in AGRA FACTS (subscription only).

Officials from the Commission's DG SANTE had previously confirmed that the executive was considering adjusting legislation on pesticide active ingredients to allow "group rapporteurs" on glyphosate. Following a discussion at SCoPAFF in October 2018, the French delegation made it clear that it did not want to be the lead Rapporteur Member State (RMS) for the authorisation renewal, but could consider being part of a group on equal footing with other Member States.

Delegations will return to the issue in future discussions. A decision on the legislation revision and the "group rapporteurs" is expected before the end of this year. However, Commission officials have said that there is “no rush”. According to AGRA FACTS, the Commission is keen to make France bear responsibility for President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to ditch glyphosate-based weedkillers by 2021.