Brussels ( Brussels Morning) – NGOs criticize the European Council’s move to weaken forest protection law, urging commitment to combating global deforestation and maintaining EU credibility.
A recently adopted European law designed to protect forests overseas and in Europe has been watered down by governments within the European Council, angering conservationists and environmental activists.
Environmental organisations demanded governments not to back-pedal on the latest legislation to prevent deforestation connected to goods sold on the EU market after a considerable majority of agriculture ministers lined up behind a call to delay the law which is due to take effect at the end of this year.
In an open letter to EU governments on 28 March some three dozen NGOs including forest action group Fern and the legal charity Client Earth responded with alarm to an “urgent call for action” tabled by Austria at a European Council summit on Tuesday, urging the implementation period be “significantly extended”, with covering exemptions for “safe countries” and for small-scale producers within the EU.
The call was approved by Finland, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden, and Austrian agriculture minister Norbert Totschnig afterwards said his initiative had been backed by “an overwhelming majority” of 20 member states. “We now recommend the Commission for a temporary suspension of the law allowing for a feasible implementation escorted by a revision of the regulation,” he stated in a statement.
“The EU must its commitment to fight global deforestation and forest degradation both in motherland and abroad. Any delay in implementation would impede its credibility,” the NGOs noted, adding: “We encourage all Member States to be at the forefront of a fast and practical implementation of [EU Deforestation Regulation] EUDR, instead of falling for industries’ lobbying actions.”
Their letter also mentions recent reports by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists indicating the authorities in several EU countries have assigned insufficient resources to implement the new law. After 30 December, or six months thereafter for small businesses, it will be unlawful to place cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya, wood, or a range of products, on the EU market without performing rigorous due diligence and producing specific certification.
Julia Christian, a forest campaigner with Fern in Brussels, expressed there were signs the groundbreaking regulation was already prompting “structural modifications on the ground in tropical forested countries”.“If this endeavour to undermine it succeeds, then the announcement to the rest of the world will be clear: Europe is happy to take assertive action to end the destruction of forests abroad but isn’t equipped to do so at home,” Christian stated.
The Austrian initiative came amid controversy over actions within the European Council to back-pedal on several pieces of temporary Green Deal environmental legislation, which would have suggested effectively reneging on hard-won political arrangements with the European Parliament. This recent bid calls for the adjustment of a regulation that is already in force just months before it is due to take effect, a motion the NGOs stated was “in opposition to EU democratic principles”.
The European Council’s attempt to weaken forest protection laws has sparked condemnation from environmental organizations. Urgent action is needed to uphold commitments to combat global deforestation and maintain EU credibility. The move to delay implementation undermines the integrity of environmental efforts and risks setting a dangerous precedent. As the EU faces scrutiny over its environmental commitments, member states must prioritize the protection of forests both at home and abroad. Failure to do so not only jeopardizes the health of ecosystems but also undermines the EU’s leadership role in environmental sustainability.
