Agriculture The National Council wants to approve EU plant protection products more quickly
Plant protection products that have already been approved in a neighboring EU country, the Netherlands or Belgium should be available more quickly in Switzerland in future. The National Council is ready to discuss a corresponding bill.
17.12.2025, 19:42
17.12.2025, 19:43
SDA
On Wednesday, the National Council approved the draft bill from the National Council's Committee for Economic Affairs and Taxation (WAK-N), which aims to enable modern plant protection in Switzerland, by 116 votes to 71 with 2 abstentions. Due to time constraints, however, it was only able to vote on whether to approve the proposal. The detailed discussion is expected to follow on Thursday morning.
Representatives of the SP, Greens and GLP opposed the bill. A minority wanted to suspend the discussion of the matter until a decision had been made on the "Bilaterals III" package. However, their motion was unsuccessful, as was the red-green motion not to enter the debate.
"With this bill, we will become the country in Europe that allows by far the most pesticides," said Jacqueline Badran (SP/ZH). "I have rarely been so disappointed with our parliament." The bill was an "innovation killer and not modern", she added.
On the other hand, the proponents argued that Swiss agriculture was in crisis. "We currently have unacceptably long approval procedures and over 600 pending procedures," said Beat Walti (FDP/ZH). The draft law supports the production power of agriculture. Old pesticides can thus be replaced by new plant protection products.
The draft law is based on a parliamentary initiative by Philipp Matthias Bregy (center/VS). In the Council, he emphasized its importance for the security of supply. He went on to say: "We have also provided the necessary protection." However, opponents of the law doubted this. This was not only harmful to the environment, but also to health.
Even if it shared the WAK-N's aspirations, the Federal Council rejected the proposal, said Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. The proposed law had already been implemented with the total revision of the Ordinance on Plant Protection Products, which came into force at the beginning of December. According to the proponents, however, this amendment to the ordinance is not enough.
