Postponing the anti-deforestation regulation is also yes for the European Parliament. In October, member states had already expressed themselves along these lines. On Thursday, November 14 in Brussels, MEPs gave the green light to the implementation of this text aimed at preventing deforestation linked to the consumption in the European Union (EU) of products from livestock, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, soy, wood, rubber, coal and paper printed on December 30, 2025, instead of December 31, 2024.
But the European People’s Party (EPP) group stood out by tabling a series of amendments to the text, some of which obtained a majority, which will force MEPs and member states to agree during a “trilogue” phase. » which will be organized shortly. Indeed, an amendment voted for by the right and the far right proposes to add a new category of so-called “risk-free” countries to the text, with a view to excluding the products of several States (European, above all) from the obligations contained in the regulations.
“A breach has opened”
The Council of the EU will certainly not endorse this overhaul of the provisions contained in the text, but the fact remains that negotiations will have to be carried out before the end of the year. Marie Toussaint, member of the Greens/European Free Alliance (EFA) group, is annoyed: the EPP has, according to her, “opened a breach”, and its positions “constitute a major setback that endangers both our global leadership and the rights of indigenous communities who are most affected by deforestation».
Amendments moving even further away from the initial version of the text (which sought in particular to rethink the system of responsibility weighing on the different actors in the value chain or to postpone the text for two years instead of one) were on the other hand were withdrawn, narrowly, before voting time.
Other environmental assets threatened?
Pascal Canfin, member of the centrist group Renew Europe, fears other offensives from the right with a view to reversing the EU’s environmental achievements. The regulation establishing performance standards for CO2 emissions for cars or the carbon border adjustment mechanism could thus be targeted. The European elected official also criticizes the EPP for allying itself more and more regularly with the far right, ignoring, in passing, the “coalition contract” supposed to link the EPP, the Socialists and the Centrists.
The MEP now fears that the EPP will oppose the appointment of Spanish Socialist Teresa Ribera as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the EU’s Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition. “If the EPP blocks his name, then the coalition contract will definitely be shattered“, he warns, adding that “then we would really, really be in crisis».
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
