Opposing two key aspects of the European Green Deal, the EPP wants to present itself as “the voice and defender of European farmers and rural communities.”

    It considers the pesticide reduction targets to be too high, which would jeopardise Europe’s food security and the viability of farming businesses in the absence of a satisfactory alternative.

    The EPP wants to present itself as “the voice and defender of European farmers and rural communities.” It considers the pesticide reduction targets to be too high, claiming it would jeopardise Europe’s food security and the viability of farming businesses in the absence of a satisfactory alternative.

    Belgian MEP and co-leader of the Greens/EFA group, Phillipe Lamberts, called out the party's stance on social media: "The EPP's campaign in favour of pesticides and against the nature restoration law is an attack against their own Ursula von der Leyen, and this inner-party power struggle is fought on the back of farmers & nature."

   The umbrella group of Europe’s Christian Democrat and Conservative parties, the largest political force in the European Parliament, adopted a resolution against the proposal at a meeting in Munich, Germany.

    “We want to sound the alarm on these directives that are being negotiated, we don’t want to block them,” a spokesperson for the EPP group in the European Parliament said on Friday, “but the pace they are imposing risks ruining European agriculture.