BUCHAREST – Ramona Duminicioiu, president of EcoRuralis, one of the associations that has sued the Romanian state over annual exemptions for neonicotinoids – substances banned in the EU since 2018 – says the situation shows a “disarray” in pesticide control.
Romania's Cluj Court of Appeals on Tuesday suspended a national derogation allowing the use of neonicotinoids in treated seeds. The Agriculture Ministry has five days to appeal.
“There is no methodology or system of cooperation between state control institutions to ensure monitoring and traceability,” Duminicioiu told Euractiv, adding that authorities “have normalized such a chaotic system that in all seed treatment stations in Romania, seeds are almost automatically treated with neonicotinoids as a preventive measure.”
The president of the Federation of Agro-Industrial Industry, Ionel Arion, said in a radio interview on Thursday that the decision could disrupt the entire spring agricultural campaign.
“We have 3.9 million hectares that are not sown. The losses will reach 3 billion euros,” Arion said, a statement that shows the widespread use of neonicotinoids.
Duminiciu stressed that the Cluj court's decision is “enforceable and immediate”. She doubts that the Ministry of Agriculture will succeed in its appeal, given that it was not in accordance with the law, especially since there is also a decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union from December 2022 prohibiting derogations.
On Thursday, the National Phytosanitary Authority announced that legal steps were being taken, but that filing an appeal “does not suspend the decision of the Cluj Court of Appeal.”
Earlier this week, several agri-food associations met with acting President Ilie Boloyan. According to a press release, the discussion also focused on “the possibility of amending Regulations (EU) 2015/783, (EU) 2018/784 and (EU) 2018/785” – the three regulations banning these dangerous neonicotinoids.
(Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)
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