Country after country at Tuesday’s meeting of environment ministers in Luxembourg gave their support to the compromise brought forward by the Swedish presidency of the Council of Ministers regarding nature restoration.
In the end, it was Spain’s Environment Minister Teresa Ribera Rodriguez who got the numbers to definitely tip over to a yes.
– Today is a day when we can celebrate nature, summed up the Spaniard – whereupon Sweden’s climate and environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari (L) was able to hammer through the approval.
– An important step for nature, said Pourmokhtari.
Thanks Sweden
In plain text, the proposal deals with, among other things, how meadows and wetlands are recreated, forests are mixed up and green areas are built in the cities.
However, the debate has been heated, since several member states have worried that sufficient consideration has not been given to their specific conditions. In the end, however, Sweden’s negotiators received great praise for the work behind which a sufficient majority could still be found.
– What you have done in recent weeks is to introduce a large amount of room for maneuver, said for example the European Commission’s climate responsible executive vice-chairman Frans Timmermans.
– You have done an enormous amount of work, said Denmark’s Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke.
Sweden voted no
A total of 20 EU countries gave the thumbs up to the proposal, while among others Poland, the Netherlands and Italy were against it.
As also the chairing country Sweden.
– The Swedish government has long since had clear views that there are difficulties with this proposal and how it affects especially agricultural land use and Swedish forest management. So Sweden’s position is not to vote through this proposal but to vote no, said Pourmokhtari on his way into the meeting.
The proposal now moves on to final compromise negotiations with the EU Parliament in the autumn. However, the EU Parliament has not yet agreed on its line on the issue.