Citizens across seven EU countries overwhelmingly want stronger protection from pesticides, regardless of their political views. A new YouGov poll covering France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania and Spain reveals that EU citizens massively support phasing out pesticides and reject replacing the periodic safety reviews of pesticides with unlimited approvals. These views are held across party lines. The findings expose the lack of public backing for the Commission’s proposal to introduce unlimited pesticide approvals under the Food and Feed Safety Omnibus proposal (Omnibus X), a move strongly supported by conservative and far-right Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). However, as the poll shows, this deregulation agenda is starkly at odds with the priorities of the people these MEPs represent.
Key findings
- Citizens want pesticide use phased out, not expanded. Between 68% (Spain) and 80% (Romania) of citizens say that pesticides should be phased out completely, whether or not alternatives are immediately available. Support for expanding pesticide use is just 1–3% at the country level.
- Unlimited approvals of pesticides are massively rejected. Support for unlimited pesticide approval stands at only 4–6% in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Spain, and 10% in Romania.
- The rejection of unlimited approval crosses political divides. When respondents are grouped by the European Parliament group of the party they voted for, support for unlimited pesticide approvals remains very low, ranging from 3% to 10%. It is lowest among voters of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA) at 3%, and stands at 5% among voters of The Left, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), Renew Europe and the European People’s Party (EPP). It reaches 6% among voters of Patriots for Europe (PfE), 7% among those of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and 10% among those of Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN).
- Citizens across the political spectrum favour more frequent reassessment. Similarly, support for more frequent reassessment ranges from 50% to 72% across the seven countries, and from 49% among PfE-affiliated voters to 89% among Greens/EFA-affiliated voters, with support at 59% among EPP-affiliated voters and at 57% among ECR-affiliated voters. This contrasts with the current proposals by the European Commission, the Council and the co-rapporteurs in the European Parliament.
- Human health and the environment are the priorities. Human health is the top consideration in pesticide approval decisions in every political group, cited by 69–81% of respondents. Water quality and biodiversity follow, while agricultural yields, production costs, and the effects on prices receive very little attention.
- Citizens want manufacturers to pay for the damage. Pesticide manufacturers are the most frequently selected party responsible for covering pesticide-related damage in all seven countries and across political affiliation, ahead of farmers, taxpayers or shared responsibility between all three.
- The findings expose a stark disconnect between what citizens want and the position of some of the elected MEPs, who are ignoring their voters’ demands and are pushing to weaken protection from pesticides through the Commission’s Omnibus “Food and Feed Safety” proposal. Presented in December 2025, the proposal would make unlimited approvals for pesticide active substances the norm, scrapping the regular safety reviews that have allowed 54 harmful substances to be banned since the EU pesticide regulation entered into force in 2011. It would also make it far easier for endocrine disruptors and groundwater contaminants to stay approved “by derogation”, and let banned pesticides, including some carcinogens, remain on the market for up to three more years. These changes have raised serious concerns among scientists, doctors and five UN experts over the potential risks to human health, the environment and fundamental rights. The push to weaken these safeguards has been backed by conservative and far-right MEPs, who are leading on the file, with support for some of these proposals also coming from members of the S&D and liberal groups.
MEPs should listen to the people they represent. The findings leave little room for doubt about the lack of public support for unlimited pesticide approvals, and other measures prioritising agro-economic considerations over the protection of human health and the environment.
We call on all MEPs to stand with their voters and reject the Omnibus X proposal.
