Infokiri

Pietro Fiocchi

B-1047 Brussels - SOPHIE SCHOLL 02U041 - +32 2 28 45762 F-67070 Strasbourg - WINSTON CHURCHILL M05059 - +33 3 88 1 75762 [email protected]

To the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen To the Commissioner Jessika Roswall

To the Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné To the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

To the Ministries concerned of EU Member States Subject: Letter on lead ban Dear President, Dear Commissioners, Dear Ministers, as Members of the European Parliament, we would like to draw your attention to the proposal currently under discussion in the REACH Committee concerning a total ban on the use of lead in hunting, fishing and shooting sports. During the latest meeting of the Committee, the Commission presented an approach which, in attempting to reconcile different positions, effectively introduced a differentiated treatment among Member States, granting derogations and “concessions” to certain Northern European countries – which practice specific types of hunting – while in fact penalising the forms of hunting that are typical of the Mediterranean area. This raises serious concerns not only regarding the neutrality and consistency of regulatory action, but also in terms of equal treatment between Member States and between different socio-economic and cultural sectors within the Union. Regardless of the technical merits of the various regulatory options concerning lead, we believe that, at this historical juncture, moving towards a general ban entails political and strategic criticalities of the highest order. In particular: today’s geopolitical context, marked by armed conflicts at Europe’s borders and by growing international instability, requires the utmost caution with respect to any measure that could have structural repercussions on the European ammunition industry and, more broadly, on the Union’s defence industrial and technological base; the arms and ammunition sector and related activities (including shooting ranges and a significant part of the hunting and sport-shooting world) constitute an important component of our strategic autonomy, our supply security and our overall defence industrial system; proceeding now with a total ban on lead, without having properly assessed the real production capacity of safe, available and sustainable alternatives, risks weakening European industry to the benefit of extra-EU competitors and undermining the resilience of our defence value chain at a moment of maximum international tension.

For these reasons, we consider it necessary and urgent to suspend the current procedure within the REACH framework that aims at a total ban on lead in hunting, fishing and shooting sports and postpone any radical decision in this area to a later stage, when the geopolitical and European security context will be more stable and when the consequences for the ammunition industry, the defence sector and local economies linked to hunting and sport shooting will have been properly assessed through updated impact analyses; Furthermore, we think it would be useful to launch, in the meantime, a more balanced dialogue with Member States in order to consider gradual, realistic and technologically feasible solutions that pursue environmental objectives without de facto causing a structural weakening of Europe’s defence industrial capacity. In light of the above, we hereby issue a strong appeal: to the European Commission, to suspend further steps in the process leading to a total ban on lead in this sector, acknowledging the exceptional nature of the current geopolitical situation and the need to safeguard the European defence industrial base; to the Council and the Member States, to clearly state their support for the suspension and postponement of this procedure, upholding the necessity not to adopt, at this stage, measures likely to weaken our industrial capacity and strategic autonomy; to the Members of Parliament, to closely monitor this dossier and, in the relevant fora, support the request to stop and postpone the procedure for a lead ban. In our view, this is not only a matter of finding a fair balance between environmental protection and the protection of economic and social activities linked to hunting, fishing and shooting sports, but also – and above all – a question of responsibility for the security of the Union, the safeguarding of its strategic industries and the cohesion among the different cultural and territorial models that make up the European project. Trusting in your attention and sensitivity on such a delicate issue, we remain at your disposal to contribute to a constructive dialogue and to a more prudent and balanced regulatory path. Yours sincerely, Pietro Fiocchi Carlo Fidanza Nicolas Bay Sergio Berlato Stefano Cavedagna Anna Cisint Paolo Inselvini Marion Maréchal Michele Picaro Guillaume Peltier Nicola Procaccini Emil Radev Antonella Sberna Sander Smit Antonín Stanek Flavio Tosi Laurence Trochu Dimitris Tsiodras

Brussels, 16 April 2026

Pietro Fiocchi

B-1047 Brussels - SOPHIE SCHOLL 02U041 - +32 2 28 45762 F-67070 Strasbourg - WINSTON CHURCHILL M05059 - +33 3 88 1 75762 [email protected]

To the President of the European Commission, Ursula Von Der Leyen To the Commissioner Jessika Roswall

To the Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné To the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

To the Ministries concerned of EU Member States Subject: Letter on lead ban Dear President, Dear Commissioners, Dear Ministers, as Members of the European Parliament, we would like to draw your attention to the proposal currently under discussion in the REACH Committee concerning a total ban on the use of lead in hunting, fishing and shooting sports. During the latest meeting of the Committee, the Commission presented an approach which, in attempting to reconcile different positions, effectively introduced a differentiated treatment among Member States, granting derogations and “concessions” to certain Northern European countries – which practice specific types of hunting – while in fact penalising the forms of hunting that are typical of the Mediterranean area. This raises serious concerns not only regarding the neutrality and consistency of regulatory action, but also in terms of equal treatment between Member States and between different socio-economic and cultural sectors within the Union. Regardless of the technical merits of the various regulatory options concerning lead, we believe that, at this historical juncture, moving towards a general ban entails political and strategic criticalities of the highest order. In particular: today’s geopolitical context, marked by armed conflicts at Europe’s borders and by growing international instability, requires the utmost caution with respect to any measure that could have structural repercussions on the European ammunition industry and, more broadly, on the Union’s defence industrial and technological base; the arms and ammunition sector and related activities (including shooting ranges and a significant part of the hunting and sport-shooting world) constitute an important component of our strategic autonomy, our supply security and our overall defence industrial system; proceeding now with a total ban on lead, without having properly assessed the real production capacity of safe, available and sustainable alternatives, risks weakening European industry to the benefit of extra-EU competitors and undermining the resilience of our defence value chain at a moment of maximum international tension.

For these reasons, we consider it necessary and urgent to suspend the current procedure within the REACH framework that aims at a total ban on lead in hunting, fishing and shooting sports and postpone any radical decision in this area to a later stage, when the geopolitical and European security context will be more stable and when the consequences for the ammunition industry, the defence sector and local economies linked to hunting and sport shooting will have been properly assessed through updated impact analyses; Furthermore, we think it would be useful to launch, in the meantime, a more balanced dialogue with Member States in order to consider gradual, realistic and technologically feasible solutions that pursue environmental objectives without de facto causing a structural weakening of Europe’s defence industrial capacity. In light of the above, we hereby issue a strong appeal: to the European Commission, to suspend further steps in the process leading to a total ban on lead in this sector, acknowledging the exceptional nature of the current geopolitical situation and the need to safeguard the European defence industrial base; to the Council and the Member States, to clearly state their support for the suspension and postponement of this procedure, upholding the necessity not to adopt, at this stage, measures likely to weaken our industrial capacity and strategic autonomy; to the Members of Parliament, to closely monitor this dossier and, in the relevant fora, support the request to stop and postpone the procedure for a lead ban. In our view, this is not only a matter of finding a fair balance between environmental protection and the protection of economic and social activities linked to hunting, fishing and shooting sports, but also – and above all – a question of responsibility for the security of the Union, the safeguarding of its strategic industries and the cohesion among the different cultural and territorial models that make up the European project. Trusting in your attention and sensitivity on such a delicate issue, we remain at your disposal to contribute to a constructive dialogue and to a more prudent and balanced regulatory path. Yours sincerely, Pietro Fiocchi Carlo Fidanza Nicolas Bay Sergio Berlato Stefano Cavedagna Anna Cisint Paolo Inselvini Marion Maréchal Michele Picaro Guillaume Peltier Nicola Procaccini Emil Radev Antonella Sberna Sander Smit Antonín Stanek Flavio Tosi Laurence Trochu Dimitris Tsiodras

Brussels, 16 April 2026