At the ECR Study Days in Stockholm, Czech Member of the European Parliament Alexandr Vondra issued a strong rebuke of the European Commission’s push for a total ban on lead ammunition, warning that such a move would undermine defense readiness, civilian shooting traditions, and even environmental stewardship.
“What now is Commission trying to push is the complete ban of the lead ammunition… and that’s dangerous in particular in the current geopolitical environment,” Vondra said, referencing the ongoing war in Ukraine and Europe’s urgent need to ramp up military production.
While Vondra supported earlier restrictions on lead ammunition in wetlands for environmental reasons, he strongly opposes extending the ban across all civilian and military contexts. “There is expected to be some exemption for the military purposes but not for the rest… and that’s a total nonsense,” he said. “To invest for entirely different type of production of ammunition which is not produced from lead… it’s a nonsense because [it] diversify the money for the investment.”
He warned that manufacturers — often producing both civilian and military ammunition — would be forced to split resources at a time when military rearmament is critical. “Either or is the way forward… we must select the priorities,” Vondra emphasized, calling for the proposal to be postponed by at least 10 years.
Vondra also questioned the safety and effectiveness of lead-free alternatives. “If you miss the target then the lead ammunition will remain in the tree, while the bismuth, steel… can hurt somebody in the neighborhood,” he explained.
Rejecting health-based arguments for the ban, Vondra offered a personal example: “I am consuming the game for all my life… My son is a Microsoft manager, my grandson is a genius… and they are all eating the venison. So you know to argue that it’s killing the people is a nonsense.”
He further criticized the EU’s regulatory approach, calling subsidies for a transition to lead-free ammunition “socialist” and warning of broader economic consequences. “It’s always relocated — the industry is relocated to China, US — and we are losing the competitiveness… and we must not lose in the area of the guns. Never.”
Highlighting social and environmental fallout, Vondra pointed out that in countries like the Czech Republic and Sweden, hunting is a tradition of ordinary citizens — not elites. “In our country… hunting is something like golf in Sweden,” he said. “Then they don’t have the money to go, so they would give up… and it would have even the negative environmental consequences.”