Published: Just now
The EU should relax the protection of wolves and bears and other large predators in order to “find a better balance”, the EU Parliament believes.
They ignore the science, counters the WWF.
Parliament’s wishes are set out in a non-binding resolution that was voted through on Thursday with the support of 306 members to 225 – and 25 abstentions.
In the resolution, the European Commission is asked to adapt the protection status of the predators as soon as the levels that were aimed for have been reached. Not least, it applies to the amount of wolves that the parliament already considers sufficient, overall in Europe.
The majority of the Swedish members support the resolution.
“We protect biological diversity and want Swedish predator management to be based on coexistence, but that cannot happen at the expense of a living countryside,” says Erik Bergkvist (S) in a press release.
“The EU legislation is clumsily designed and does not take into account whether the species have recovered and no longer need to be protected to the same extent,” says Emma Wiesner (C).
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), on the other hand, is critical.
“With this resolution, the members of the European Parliament are failing both nature and farmers. Wolves are used as scapegoats for larger socio-economic problems facing the extensive livestock sector,” writes Sabien Leemans from WWF in a press release.