EU's Timmermans holds 'unprecedented' private talks with MEPs to win support - EURACTIV

EU’s Timmermans holds ‘unprecedented’ private talks with MEPs to win support - EURACTIV.com
By Natasha Foote | EURACTIV.com Est. 5min 24-05-2023 (updated: 24-05-2023 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The meetings, which were held between the cabinets and an estimated 10-20 EU lawmakers, were designed to persuade them to vote in favour of the Commission proposals. [STEPHANIE LECOCQ | EPA PRESS] EURACTIV is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The cabinets of Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans and Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius have been holding one-on-one meetings with EU lawmakers to get them on board with the EU executive’s pesticide-cutting and nature restoration proposals, MEPs told EURACTIV. The meetings, which were held during the 8-11 May plenary week, come on the back of the decision of the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) to reject two crucial proposals under the Green Deal – the sustainable use of pesticides regulation (SUR) and the nature restoration law (NRL) – over food security concerns. The contentious-but-ambitious SUR proposal aims to slash the use and risk of pesticides in half by 2030, as set out in the EU’s flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy, while the NRL aims to restore the EU’s degraded ecosystems. Together, the two form foundational pillars of the political ambitions to restore Europe’s nature by 2050. Contacted by EURACTIV, a representative from the cabinet of Timmermans confirmed that the meetings had indeed taken place, mainly with the Vice President himself and a range of different MEPs and their staff, and were designed to “to go through their concerns and clarify the nature restoration proposal”. During a recent meeting of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee (AGRI), Vice President Timmermans did also himself admit to discussing details with “several individual MEPs”. One of these was Swedish liberal MEP Emma Wiesner, who sits on the European Parliament’s environment committee. However, for Wiesner, the meetings were designed to persuade them to vote in favour of the proposals, calling the move ‘dirty play’ by the Commission. “These meetings overstep the Commission’s role of the civil servant,” she told EURACTIV, calling the decision “unprecedented” and “unprofessional”. Wiesner revealed that cabinet members present “threatened to withhold the new genomic techniques (NGTs) proposal (see below for details) if they do not get on board with the SUR and the NRL”. Meanwhile, another MEP, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed to EURACTIV that they also met with Timmermans’ cabinet on the same theme, adding that meetings had been held or proposed with ‘many more MEPs’. “The Commission is moving away from convincing mode into a blackmailing mode,” the MEP told EURACTIV, adding that the meetings were “viewed negatively” by many parliamentarians. While the lawmaker sees the move to withhold NGTs as a “bluff”, they voiced frustrations over the course of the conversation until this point. “Timmermans now says he’s open to discussing, but this wasn’t the case at the beginning,” the MEP pointed out. EU gene editing, pesticide cut proposals ‘package deal', Commission warns The European Commission’s upcoming gene editing proposal is ‘inseparable’ from its proposals to slash the use and risk of pesticides in half and to restore nature, Vice President Frans Timmermans said, stressing the proposals are not an ‘à la carte’ menu. ‘Playing left against right’ For MEP Wiesner, the policy in itself should be “sound without the need to blackmail it through”. “The Commission is playing left against right, trading off one side against the other in a ping pong game, and this is not the right way of doing this,” she said. The left side of the Parliament is more in favour of SUR and the NRL, while those on the right are more in favour of NGTs, effectively meaning that both have something to lose in this scenario, she explained. “The Commission should do its homework and present sound legislation in the first place rather than resorting to blackmail techniques,” she reiterated, maintaining that the Commission is favouring pushing legislation through “fast rather than correctly”. Instead, the Commission should convince lawmakers purely with policy arguments, the MEP stressed. “If it’s not up to scratch, it should be redesigned,” she said, calling on the Commission to be “more humble, open” in its approach. The move was harshly criticised by Herbert Dorfmann, agriculture coordinator of the EPP, likening the move to ‘extortion’. “European Parliament is not a child to be told either be good or else I won’t give you candy,” he said. “If this is the political and democratic concept of Mr Timmermans and Mr Sinkevičius, it says a lot about how they think,” he told EURACTIV, adding that he feels more duty to his constituency than to the Commissioners. Meanwhile, MEP Wiesner rejects efforts to package the proposals together in a way which puts NGTs on hold. “This idea of a package approach is absurd,” Wiesner said, accusing the Commission of rewriting history and “making it up as they go along”. “If it had been a package approach from the beginning, the impact assessment should also have reflected this with a ‘package impact assessment’,” she concluded. [Edited by Nathalie Weatherald/Gerardo Fortuna] [Gerardo Fortuna also contributed to this reporting] Read more with EURACTIV EU agri MEPs reject nature restoration law, losing 'voice' in the processEU agriculture lawmakers have approved their opinion on the EU's nature restoration law which rejects the whole proposal, effectively leaving the agriculture committee ‘without a voice’ in the final draft.BackgroundGene editing describes a number of new scientific methods used to alter genomes with the aim of genetically engineering certain traits into plants. This includes pest resistance, which researchers hope can lower the amount of pesticides used. The Commission’s long-awaited proposal on whether to loosen EU rules on new genetic techniques is expected in the second quarter of 2023. Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Agrifood Energy & Environment Frans Timmermans green deal Nature Restoration Law SUR sustainable use of pesticides sustainable use of pesticides regulation Virginijus Sinkevičius