EU agrees on rainforest rules

The EU countries and the EU Parliament have now finally agreed on the new rules to combat the destruction of rainforests. A settlement on Tuesday evening means that the introduction is postponed for a year – but without the legislation otherwise changing.

The so-called deforestation directive had been stuck in an intense battle where conservative parties in the EU Parliament wanted to relax the requirements at the last moment, despite the fact that the parties actually agreed on the rules already last year.

Now, instead, the battle ends in a compromise, after final negotiations led by the EU’s new environmental commissioner Jessika Roswall on Tuesday evening.