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full screen Farmers during demonstrations in Brussels where they set fire to tires outside the European Parliament in protest of the climate law that has now been approved. Photo: Thomas Padilla / TT News Agency
The EU’s nature restoration law is approved – despite farmer protests and heated debate about food and the climate.
The law was approved by a narrow margin by the EU Parliament.
In Tuesday’s vote, 329 members said yes and 275 no, 24 abstained. On the yes side were, among others, the Swedish S members.
– Now we have a balanced proposal. We were afraid that there would be too many EU regulations. But the flexibility will be there so that in each individual country and each region you can be involved in controlling which land is actually involved, says Heléne Fritzon (S) at a press conference in Strasbourg to TT.
The approval of the bill on the restoration of nature and the protection of wetlands and green areas could have failed. The conservative EPP, the parliament’s largest party group, urged its members to vote no, and the party also brought in many members from the middle.
– We simply see too many question marks. I am very afraid of what this will do to the green industries and the constraints that this may mean for property rights, says Emma Wiesner (C) to TT.
The law must be formally approved by the EU Council of Ministers before the new rules come into force.
FACTS/EU Nature Restoration Act
In June 2022, the European Commission presented its proposal for a nature restoration law with the aim of arranging a “continued and sustainable restoration of a resilient nature with biological diversity”. The goal is measures that cover at least 20 percent of the EU’s land and water surface in 2030 and all ecosystems that need to be restored by 2050.
Both among the EU member states and the EU Parliament, there was great disagreement about the proposal before a settlement was finally reached after compromise negotiations last autumn. Basically, it is about how meadows and wetlands can be recreated, forests mixed up and green areas created in the cities.
Tuesday’s yes from the EU Parliament now needs to be followed by a formal go-ahead from the EU’s Council of Ministers as well.
(TT
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