Green light at the first European law on the nature restoration. The OK finally arrived, after months of stalemate, at the end of the meeting of the Environment ministers of theEuropean Union. This vote – by majority – confirms the agreement with theEuropean Parliament. The regulation proposed from 2022 by European Commission aims to restore the already degraded natural areas and it is a segment of the Green deal, perhaps even the last act given the turnaround that the outgoing president has made Ursula Von der Leyen in recent months and the advance of the “ecosceptic” right wing European. And in fact at the meeting of ministers they voted against theItalyL’Hungaryi Netherlandsthe Polandthe Finland and the Sweden: in most of these countries i conservatives I am in majority. The situation is such that theAustria voted in favor in the meeting (with the competent minister Leonore Gewesslerexponent of greens) and immediately after the chancellor Karl Nehammer (of the Austrian People’s Party, therefore in Ppe) said he plans to appeal. On this point, in Brussels it is ruled out that there will be any reversal on the outcome of the vote. Minister Gewessler – an EU source clarifies to the agency Handle – represents Austria and the vote he expressed at the summit “is legally binding”. The legal service of the European Council also confirmed this, again according to the same source. Net of the internal balances within the Vienna executive, Minister Gewessler’s vote was decisive for the final green light. The government initially declared its intention to refrain and then announced the vote in favor yesterday. With the yes of Vienna it was therefore possible to reach the qualified majority within the Council, which is achieved when I vote in favour at least 15 EU states (out of 27) that they represent at least 65% of the population.
The proposed regulation is one of the key pillars of the EU biodiversity strategy and serves to align the European Union with international commitments undertaken with the Kunming-Montreal agreement on biodiversity. It is innovative because for the first time it does not only regulate the protection of natural areas but it points to restore those already degraded through one roadmap in three stages: 30 percent of each ecosystem will have to be subject to restoration measures by 203060% by 2040 and 90% by 2050. Governments will have to develop national recovery plans to report periodically to European Commission on how they intend to achieve their objectives.
Overall, the rules require Member States to define and implement measures to at least restore 20 percent of land and marine areas of the EU by 2030. Among the fears for food safety dictated by war in Ukraine and the repeated protests of the farmersthe proposal has been around for months political target of the centre-right to the European Chamber and by various Member States who have done so postpone the adoption. The final agreement reached in November by Parliament and the EU Council – confirmed by the ministers – effectively provides for a “emergency brake” to address the concerns expressed about food safety, setting 2033 as the date for the Commission to review and evaluate the application of the regulation and its impact on the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors. Furthermore, with an implementing act, the EU Commission has the power to suspend the implementation of the rules relating to agricultural ecosystems for up to one year in case of “serious consequences at community level for food safety”. Immediately after the vote, the Lithuanian European Commissioner for the Environment Virginijus Sinkevičius (also from the Greens), congratulated the ministers for the “historical result” and for having had the “courage to defend” the agreement.
***
In the photo above | The European Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and the Austrian Minister Leonore Gewessler
