The German Federal Minister for the Environment, Svenja Schulze, is calling for pesticide-free compensation areas and a binding date for the phase-out of glyphosate. However, this has annoyed the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture. EURACTIV Germany’s partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.

The Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, Svenja Schulze (SPD) wants to push forward with ending the use of the controversial weedkiller glyphosate. She is therefore putting her fellow cabinet minister, the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Klöckner (CDU), under pressure. “We now want to progressively drive the phase-out, including an end date,” said Schulze in Berlin on Tuesday (6 November). She added that glyphosate could not be replaced with similar substances either.

Glyphosate approved in the EU until end of 2022

At the EU level, the herbicide has been approved until December 2022 and so a total ban would not be possible until this date.