The European Parliament will once again consider it on July 11
Farmers fear the plan would force them to give up production on some of their lands to make way for forests, meadows and ditches. Representative photo: iStock. An amended version of the European Parliament’s proposed Nature Restoration Law faced deadlock as the Committee on Environment, Food Safety and Public Health (ENVI) rejected the proposal on June 27, 2023.
The EU regulation aims to restore habitats and species that are degraded by human interference and climate change.
The European Parliament will once again consider it on July 11 in Strasbourg, France. The committee fell short of a majority needed to pass, with 44 voting in favour and 44 against.
The rejection comes after the biggest political block in the parliament, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), launched an attack against the law.
The group expressed fears about the amendment’s potential impact on the agricultural sector. The EPP expressed concerns that the law will reduce food production and increase prices.
This has opened up the possibility for it to be rejected during a whole Parliament vote in July. Previously, two affiliate committees, agriculture and fisheries, had struck down the text.
The EU regulation aimed to restore habitats and species that are degraded by human interference and climate change. It set specific targets to restore degraded land and sea through measures like rewetting drained peatlands or increasing urban green spaces.
It’s the first time that the ENVI committee has rejected legislation from the European Green Deal, which aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent.
Christine Schneider, German Member of the European Parliament (MEP), EPP group, questioned the baseline of the proposal.
“We don’t know what happens in the different member states with this proposal. We have no clear impact assessment of food security. And so the basis is not very good and so we said we need a good baseline to have a good proposal for nature restoration,” Schneider said.
Farmers across the EU fear the plan would force them to give up production on some of their lands to make way for forests, meadows and ditches.
The farming lobby group, Copa and Cogeca, in a joint press release on June 8, called for the rejection of the Nature Conservation Law. The release said the legislation endangers farmers’ and fishers’ livelihoods and food production.
Later on, in a statement released on June 27, Copa-Cogeca welcomed the decision of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment to reject the Nature Conservation Law.
“After the rejection by the Committee on Agriculture and then the Committee on Fisheries, this third rejection sends a clear message to the European Commission that it needs to withdraw its initial proposal and present a realistic alternative,” the release stated.
The supporters of the plan said the vision is shortsighted and endangers the EU’s Green Deal which aims to reach climate neutrality by 2015.
Jutta Paulus, German MEP, Greens / EFA Group said:
We will not reach our targets for biodiversity, for soil health, for healthy rivers, oceans, land. We will not reach our targets for sustainable agriculture. And we will also not reach our climate targets because we need about 10 per cent of the emission reduction, which is enshrined in the climate law is supposed to come from ecosystems which absorb carbon. If we do not protect them, if we do not strengthen them by restoring them, we will not reach our climate targets.
The Nature Restoration Law, introduced on June 22, 2022, by the European Commission, would require European Union member states to revive forests, wetlands and other sea and landscapes marred by human development.
Initially, the bill stipulated a minimum requirement of protecting 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea by 2030. The subsequent amendments were proposed to elevate this threshold to 30 per cent — surpassing the original provisions of the bill.
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