Luxembourg environmental non-profit organisation Mouvement Ecologique asbl has called for greater transparency regarding the use of pesticides in the Grand Duchy and in the European Union (EU) as a whole.
Negotiations on the transparency of the collection and publication of statistics from EU Member States on the use of pesticides in agriculture are ongoing at the EU level.
Back in November 2021, Mouvement Ecologique supported, together with other non-profits, a call from environmental law charity ClientEarth asking national governments to plead within the Council of the European Union in favour of the compulsory collection and publication of pesticide data.
The Luxembourg non-profit lamented, however, that "the fears expressed by the organisations in the appeal, that the (rather decent) draft law from the European Commission and the European Parliament would be watered down in discussions between Member States, have now become reality". Mouvement Ecologique added that, from now on, "insignificant" data on the quantities of pesticides used must be published transparently and in real time.
Consequently, the non-profit said that it expected in the future that digital data entry would no longer be mandatory (it added that even in Luxembourg, such data are currently still largely submitted on paper forms) and that the transmission of data to the EU would only be done every five years.
According to Mouvement Ecologique, Luxembourg representatives did not contest the European Commission's proposal, but "they did not speak out actively in favour of maintaining the initial proposals either".
The non-profit also argued: "Like its unequivocal position on nuclear energy, the Luxembourg government would have every interest in actively committing to biodiversity and to a substantial reduction of pesticides in our landscapes! In other words: unfailingly supporting the European Commission's project".
The organisation concluded that, in the interest of greater transparency, Luxembourg "must also question its attitude at the national level" with regard to the non-publication of pesticide sales figures; Mouvement Ecologique argued that the Luxembourg Government "hides behind data protection provisions to keep [these] numbers under lock and key".
