EU bans, for agricultural use only, a chemical compound used in defence

Brussels – Limited ban on a substance that is essential for defence but should be avoided in agriculture, with Member States required not to play games. The European Union is trying to keep a steady course across two distinct but equally important agendas: security and sustainability. The issue concerns a chemical compound, calcium cyanamide (CaCN2), used as a fertiliser, which the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has suggested banning due to the uncontrolled environmental risks it poses. 

The EU Commission has decided to follow this scientific advice, but this has caused concern in the European Parliament, as the substance “is also a key raw material for pharmaceutical and defence production,” warns Angelika Niebler (EPP) in her parliamentary question. A ban on its use “would jeopardise the only EU producer (the German Alzchem Group, ed.) and increase dependence on China,” she warns.

The EU executive reassures: “The restriction proposal is limited to the fertiliser use, preserving all other uses, including
defence applications,” explains Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President for Industrial Strategy. A point not only appropriate, given the direct question addressed to the von der Leyen team, but necessary, considering that calcium cyanamide is used in artillery propellants and that the EU aims to achieve full European autonomy in the defence sector, with propellants representing one of its biggest challenges.

Séjourné reassured that the EU will not throw itself into Beijing’s arms in the name of the Green Deal, sustainability, and public health. The proposal to restrict the use of CaCN2 in agriculture, he points out, “currently includes longer transitional periods than those
originally recommended by ECHA, providing additional time and flexibility to the company
to reorganise its production and minimise impacts.” The Alzchem Group will therefore be able to continue producing the chemical substance needed for security reasons, with the Commission called upon to monitor restrictions on fertilisers.